The Georgia Straight - Best of Vancouver - Oct 4, 2018

FREE | OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

Volume 52 | Number 2647

AN AWESOMELY IN-DEPTH GUIDE TO OUR CITY’S FAVOURITE THINGS

2 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 3

CONTENTS

October 4 — 11 / 2018

27 COVER

The Georgia Straight ’s 23rd annual Best of Vancouver issue is here, and it is crammed with fascinating facts about our West Coast town.

Cover illustration Jason Harper

12 CANNABIS

2018 ALUMNI AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE Join us as we celebrate five talented alumni at a special edition of the Alumni Awards of Excellence for our 50th anniversary!

Cannabis-extractions expert Phil Kwong dishes on Vancouver’s best weed spots and shares advice ahead of this month’s nationwide legalization.

By Piper Courtenay

81 ARTS

If you’ve seen a compelling South Asian play here lately, chances are Rohit Chokhani has been involved.

By Janet Smith

93 MOVIES

Our crack team of critics gets to work on the second week of the Vancouver International Film Festival.

By Ken Eisner, Janet Smith, Craig Takeuchi, and Adrian Mack

99 MUSIC

We turn the spotlight on up-and-coming Vancouver acts you’ll want to keep an eye—and an ear—on.

By John Lucas, Mike Usinger, and Kate Wilson

WHERE & WHEN Thursday, October 18, 6 – 8 p.m.

The Pipe Shop, 115 Victory Ship Way North Vancouver, BC GET YOUR TICKETS NOW AT: CAPILANOU.CA/50/AWARDS

Start Here 58 CONFESSIONS 78 DRINKS 67 FOOD 24 HOROSCOPE 59 I SAW YOU 96 MOVIE REVIEWS 10 REAL ESTATE 111 SAVAGE LOVE 86 THEATRE

QUESTIONS? ALUMNI@CAPILANOU.CA

Listings 89 ARTS 107 MUSIC Services 108 CLASSIFIEDS

Vancouver’s News and Entertainment Weekly Volume 52 | Number 2631

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

NETWORKING

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Online TOP 5

Here’s what people are reading this week on Straight.com.

1 2 3 4 5

Average opioid OD victim is male, alone, and often in pain.

Your Vancouver International Film Festival guide.

The Canucks say bye to Sam Gagner after an underwhelming year.

Park board allows two restaurants to sell booze at beaches.

New West police look for a man who had a Tim Hortons tantrum.

GeorgiaStraight @GeorgiaStraight @GeorgiaStraight

The Georgia Straight is published every Thursday by the Vancouver Free Press Publishing Corp. Copies are distributed free every week throughout Vancouver, Burnaby, North and West Vancouver, New Westminster, and Richmond. International Standard Serial Number ISSN 0709-8995. Subscription rates in Canada $182.00/52 issues (includes GST), $92.00/26 issues (includes GST); United States $379.00/52 issues, $205.00/26 issues; foreign $715.00/52 issues, $365.00/26 issues. Contact 604-730-7087 if you wish to distribute free copies of the Georgia Straight at your place of business. Entire contents copyright © 2018 Vancouver Free Press, Best Of Vancouver, Bov And Golden Plates Are Trade-Marks Of Vancouver Free Press Publishing Corp. SUBMISSIONS The Straight accepts no responsibility for, and will not necessarily respond to, any submitted materials. All submissions should be addressed to contact@straight.com.

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C A S C A D I AW E D D I N G S H O W. C O M | T I C K E T S $ 2 5 4 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

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OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 5

NEWS

Valuation should reflect stigma, homeowner says

T

by Carlito Pablo

here was only one issue before the B.C. Property Assessment Appeal Board regarding a house in Surrey. It was whether or not the home’s valuation reflected the “stigma” of having housed a marijuana grow operation.

Sukhmanprit Gill is the current owner of the residence at 6772 150A Street. Gill believes that the 2018 valuation of $1,153,000 was too high because of the pot-growing history of the house.

The assessor’s office, through a submission by B.C. Assessment appraiser Joey Lee, argued that there is no discount in the value of homes that were grow ops. In a decision Tuesday (October 2), panel chair Candace Watson disagreed with the assessor.

Wa t s o n ruled that she is “not persuaded by the Assessor’s argument that there is no stigma attached to a former grow op and therefore that no discount is warranted”.

Watson noted that “based on the limited market evidence”, a discount of 10 percent is warranted.

According to Watson, the reduction is “reasonable to reflect the effect of the stigma due to the fact that the property was a former grow op”.

The property is a two-storey singlefamily residence on a 6,749-square-foot lot. Homeowner Gill suggested that the valuation should be discounted by 17.7 percent to 24.4 percent.

In his submission, Gill cited three sales of former grow ops that support his contention for a discount.

“The Appellant also argues that because of the former grow op status,

several banks that he consulted would not provide mortgage financing and that the terms offered by credit unions such as Envision are onerous,” Watson wrote in her decision. “I agree that this is a factor which affects market value.”

The assessor’s office, for its part, cited three sales of properties near the home, but these are not former grow ops.

“The Assessor argues that the 2016 and 2017 studies for grow op sales indicate that there is no discount in value for the stigma of having been a former grow op by comparing the sales of grow ops to their assessed values and then comparing the Assessment to Sales Ratios (ASRs),” Watson noted.

“This argument only holds weight if it is assumed that assessed value equals market value and I am not persuaded that it does,” the panel chair continued. “A more useful study would compare similar grow op properties to non-grow op properties and see whether a discount is indicated.”

To rebut the examples cited by Gill of former grow-op properties, the assessor recalculated the assessments of these homes to come up with assessment-to-sales ratios, or ASRs. However, that did not help.

According to Watson, the ASRs indicate to her that B.C. Assessment was “over assessing these properties by 8% to 14% which implies that a discount in this range is warranted”.

With the 10-percent reduction, the property’s value will be $1,037,700 on the 2018 assessment roll.

West Side strip mall eyed for redevelopment

by Carlito Pablo

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6 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

A new five-storey building, with 48 condos on the upper floors and commercial spaces on the ground level, has been proposed for Dunbar Street between West 28th and 29th avenues.

A

Dunbar Street strip mall on the West Side of Vancouver is up for redevelopment.

A new five-storey building has been proposed for the block between West 28th and 29th avenues. Condos will occupy the upper f loors of the development, with commercial spaces occupying the ground level.

A total of 48 condos is proposed for the Qualex-Landmark Ltd. project.

The current shopping centre is on the east side of Dunbar Street and used to be the site of a Stong’s store before that moved farther north up the street.

A laundromat and a sandwich shop bookend several businesses at the site, which includes a convenience store.

As part of the new development, a public plaza is planned for the corner of Dunbar and West 29th Avenue.

“We imagine one retail unit facing the plaza to be a coffee shop or similar, to take advantage of the landscaped outdoor space of the plaza,” a design rationale prepared by IBI Architects notes. “We have also dedicated a part of the plaza to a public art piece, voluntarily commissioned by the owners.”

The project does not require a rezoning. It will need the approval of the City of Vancouver’s developmentpermit board.

After the Straight went to press, the city’s urban-design panel was scheduled to review the proposed development, at 4464 Dunbar. on Wednesday (October 3).

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8 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

OPINION Status quo fails tenants

by Sean Cassidy

T

Independent mayoral candidate Sean Cassidy wants long-term tenants to have first access to any rental accommodation that’s available rather than allowing Airbnb to operate in the city.

he province of B.C.’s recently announced decision to adjust the rental-rate formula down to inflation was a welcome move for renters. However, with “demovictions” across the city, escalating rental rates, and a low vacancy rate, accumulated under a disastrous decade of Vision Vancouver, the next Vancouver mayor will need to be a strong advocate for renters to undo this damage.

Unfortunately, the platforms of the two current leading mayoral candidates—independent Kennedy Stewart and the NPA’s Ken Sim—have no substance for renters. Let’s examine their plans and propose some real alternatives.

Kennedy Stewart sat on the sidelines as an MP in Burnaby while his constituents were demovicted left, right, and centre. It is therefore not surprising that Stewart’s renters’ platform parrots Vision Vancouver’s existing renter protection policies, offering no new ideas.

Continuing the status quo without any radical ideas will not help renters in the current market conditions.

For example, Stewart promises to work with for-profit developers to build thousands and thousands of units of laneway houses and purposebuilt market rentals, but mentions no measures that will ensure those rentals are affordable.

On the other hand, Sim’s platform for renters is to “reduce municipal taxes, fees, and charges for laneway homes and new secondary suites that house long-term renters”. This amounts to minute savings for small private developers and homeowners, which he hopes will translate to “trickledown affordability” for renters in precarious unsecured housing.

Renters need a strong mayor who will create a renter-friendly environment and advocate for them. As a former senior government official at CMHC who cofinanced billions of dollars of purpose-built rentals across Canada, financed real-estate development projects for Royal Trust (now Royal Bank), did consumer mortgage financing, and worked for a developer managing rental property, I understand what renters need.

First, the next city council should exercise its ability under the Vancouver Charter to set and regulate market rents and the rates at which they increase for projects they approve. Currently, developers submit an application for a project that lays out the rental rate they plan to charge, but that rate applies right at the time of council approval, not occupancy.

Therefore, by the time the project is built and occupied, the resulting rents have inflated massively from the initial commitment. Market rental rates are now at astronomical prices, reaching almost $2,000 for a one-bedroom unit and over $3,000 for three bedrooms.

This is unsustainable in a city where incomes have stagnated compared to rising housing costs.

The past city council composed of mostly Vision Vancouver and NPA councillors was unwilling to use its ability to regulate market rental rates. When the market is failing a significant population of citizens who are renters, we need a mayor and

council that are willing to regulate rents for affordability.

At the same time, if we start regulating rents in a time of rising project financing costs due to increasing interest rates, we also need to ensure that developers are still encouraged to build secured market rental housing instead of condos that are more quickly profitable. On top of that, rental projects are harder to finance compared to condo projects, which benefit from construction loans secured by presales.

The city already provides some incentives through parking relaxations and development-cost-levy waivers for projects meeting certain requirements, but more can be done. The next mayor and council need to actively lobby higher levels of government to provide tax incentives for rental projects.

An example is the U.S. housing-tax model, which helped incentivize the creation of the Colwell rental apartment building in downtown Seattle, among others. If Vancouver is to be a renter-friendly city, all levels of government need to work together to align incentives for builders, but protect renters at the same time.

Secondly, with low vacancy rates, we must ensure that any existing housing supply should be used to house longterm renters first. Short-term rental (STR) services like Airbnb have turned housing into attractive cash-flow models instead of homes for people. Vancouver should ban all STR operations until the city and STR providers can implement stronger data-sharing tools to remove currently over a thousand illegal STR operations in the city.

If STR services fail to comply, then the city must hold them responsible and fine them heavily. This move will likely immediately free up long-term rental supply to the market.

Lastly, we need to stop renovictions.

Renoviction is also a form of speculation where landlords renovate to push up rents—sometimes even triple the original rent. Often, the renovations are minor in nature because their primary purpose is to generate more income for the landlord, not to improve the building.

A timely renoviction example is Berkeley Tower in the West End, where the new owner, Reliance Properties, is converting almost 60 units of existing affordable housing into highend market rentals, pushing longtime tenants out as a result. In order to stop such renovictions, we need to advocate for rent increases to be tied to the unit, not the tenant.

Should landlords choose to renovate, they need to lay out why the renovations are occurring, and the future rent they plan to charge, before the city issues their permits.

It is time for Vancouver renters to have a mayor who has a strong housing background and is unafraid to advocate for bold renter policies. I am that mayor.

Sean Cassidy is an independent mayoral candidate for Vancouver. He is the former senior debt manager and acting deputy treasurer of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in Ottawa working on national housing policy and financing affordable housing across Canada.

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OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 9

AMANDA

LYNCH

HOUSING

NPA’s Sim backs secondary suites

T

By Charlie Smith

BEST

FINANCIAL ADVISER “Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.”

– Lionel Hampton

Thank you to everyone who voted!

604.685.6521 ext 4325 Amanda.lynch@f55f.com

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he Vancouver Non-Partisan Association has elected 11 mayors in the past eight decades. Its pro-business policies kept the confidence of voters from the Second World War to the dawn of the 21st century, with the only hiatus occurring from the 1970s until the mid1980s. Famous mayors like Gordon Campbell, Philip Owen, and Gerry McGeer proudly proclaimed themselves to be acting in the public interest rather than on the side of ideologues. But everyone knew what their primary purpose was: to keep socialists out of power.

In 2018, the party’s standard-bearer, Ken Sim, likes to think of himself as being a man not driven by ideology. But his party has fallen on hard times. It hasn’t won control over the city since the 2005 election. Now there are signs that the old NPA coalition of antisocialist forces has fragmented into several parties, including Coalition Vancouver, Yes Vancouver, and Vancouver 1st.

Sim, the cofounder of Nurse Next Door and Rosemary Rocksalt, knows that he has to win the public debate over housing if he’s going to be the next mayor of Vancouver. To that end, his party has proposed a concise, three-page plan that’s anchored on allowing two secondary suites in detached homes.

Sim believes this offers two advantages: it will bring more rental units onto the market and offer debtburdened homeowners a new way to pay down their mortgages.

The NPA is also calling for fasttracking housing for low-income Vancouverites—a cause often advanced in the past by NPA councillor Melissa De Genova, who is seeking reelection. In addition, the party has promised to reduce taxes, fees, and charges for laneway

10 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

Mayoral candidate Ken Sim knows that he can’t win the election unless his housing plan can attract votes from millennials, which is one reason why he’s promoting more secondary suites.

homes and new secondary suites for long-term tenants.

Another pillar in the NPA platform is to create “attainable rental accommodation” on city-owned land.

About half of the industrial-zoned area bounded by Clark Drive, Main Street, Venables Street, and Great Northern Way is owned by the city, creating opportunities for anyone who takes power to do this.

An issue close to Sim and the party is the process by which building projects in neighbourhoods are approved in Vancouver. The NPA platform calls for an end to “city planning based on developer cash contributions”. The city has become reliant on these socalled community-amenity contributions—which are given in return for density—to fund capital projects such

as improvements to parks, libraries, and cycling infrastructure.

In an interview last summer outside Rosemary Rocksalt on Commercial Drive, Sim told the Straight that people are not being heard under the current processes. “So that’s why they’re protesting,” he said. “They’re going to these council meetings and they’re having battles.”

According to Sim, the public feels that projects are being rubber-stamped regardless of how residents might feel about them.

“I believe we bring people in on the front end of things,” he said. “We have consultation periods and we build accordingly.”

He acknowledged that some are telling him, “Ken, you’re going to have a bunch of NIMBYs everywhere.”

Critics, including his opponents in Yes Vancouver, have claimed that the NPA wants young people to live in basement suites rather than in purpose-built projects in the 70 percent of Vancouver that’s zoned for singlefamily housing.

Sim, however, said there must be a change in the civic government’s interactions with the public.

“I’d like to take this neighbourhood, for example,” he said, pointing to buildings on Commercial Drive around Rosemary Rocksalt. “I’m the last person who believes there needs to be a 40-storey tower here. This is the Drive, man. This is cool. This is why we’re here.”

When asked about a proposed project down the street from his business—which included the redevelopment of the nonprofit Kettle Society building at Venables Street and Commercial Drive—Sim responded that this is a “complicated issue”. Boffo Properties was going to develop a mixed-use project with 30 units of supportive housing, 200 homes that would be put up for sale, and 18,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.

Many neighbours were opposed, and negotiations between Boffo and the city broke down over communityamenity contributions. After speaking generally about the need to address mental illness in the community, Sim said that the Kettle project “can be approved and there should be certainty”.

So should it go ahead?

“I believe the project had a lot of support from the community,” Sim replied. “All the stakeholders—everyone—agreed. When you have the vast majority agreeing, I think it’s good for the city. If that’s what the city wants and the residents want—and they support it—do it. Why not?”

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CANNABIS

Extraction whiz dishes on cannabis INDUSTRY EXPERTS PHILIP KWONG At the ripe age of 28, Philip Kwong is dominating the cannabis-extractions game in Canada. What’s an extract?

Well, Kwong says if you’ve ever seen someone take a big blue blowtorch to two knives and freebase finger keif hash off the red-hot metal while trying not to burn themselves—that is, in its essence, dabbing a cannabis extract.

The art, however, has evolved well past its primitive dining-utensil days and has its own subdivision of the cannabis industry dedicated to advancing not only the quality of the products but the safety and efficacy of the technologies used to make them. Kwong, in many ways, has helped drive that growth in both Vancouver and Canada.

Born and raised in a New Westminster suburb, Kwong moved out of his family home and into Vancouver’s downtown core at 17. For two years, he manned an early shift, cooking in the culinary industry, living off room service in a downtown hotel. At 19, he got an apartment near the Stadium SkyTrain Station, where he still resides today.

In his early 20s, Kwong was diagnosed with remitting-relapsing multiple sclerosis—the first attack weakening the vision in his right eye, and later in his left. Suffering from several relapses and finding little success in pharmaceutical remedies, he turned to cannabis. While Kwong found substantial benefits from dabbing concentrates, he wasn’t satisfied with the products available on the market. Instead, he began developing his own.

He went on to create and head two extractions companies, Holistek Extracts and 3 Carbon Extractions—a researchand-technology company specializing

A serious medical condition called remitting-relapsing multiple sclerosis led Philip Kwong to try a series of conventional health treatments in his 20s. Over time, he found relief through the use of cannabis concentrates but he had concerns about the efficacy of those on the market. That led him to start developing his own products through two companies that he went on to create.

in hydrocarbon extractions, like propane and butane extracts.

Since finding his foothold in the cannabis industry, he has helped drive the concentrate industry forward: creating proprietary extraction recipes, setting standards for safe operating procedures, and developing popular products from hydrocarbon extraction processes.

When he’s not busy running two companies or enlightening consumers about extractions on the cannabisconference circuit, he’s likely taking his two-and-a-half-year-old Shiba Inu, Bao, for a stroll through Stanley Park.

BEST DISPENSARY

BEST LOUNGE

THC. The Healing Centre is my favourite dispensary in terms of aesthetics and appeal. From the customer service to the vast knowledge the budtenders have and their training, THC is, in my opinion, one of the best dispensaries in the city. I have a really close relationship with them. I was a patient going to their dispensary before I started Holistek and went to THC as a medical consumer. Actually, going in there as a patient and seeing the experience and service that they provided, and seeing the community outreach that they do, was huge. At the end of the month, they have this massive clearance sale where they basically blow everything out and give lots of stuff away, provide food for their customers, and give out treats.

THC is probably one of the coolest dispensaries in town, definitely.

I like going to the New Amsterdam Café. It’s old-school. It’s been there forever. It’s not under the same owner anymore, but it’s such a piece of Vancouver’s history. When I do go to a lounge, I go to the Amsterdam Café.

BEST ADVICE YOU’VE RECEIVED

The Healing Centre 6416 Main Street

BEST LICENSED PRODUCER

I’ll stop there and hang out with my legs hanging off the side and watch the sun go down. I love it. If you go on the other side, opposite to Stanley Park, there are not many kids or families, so it’s a little bit more respectful if you’re going to smoke.

New Amsterdam Café 301 West Hastings Street

ABOUT THE INDUSTRY

BEST EDIBLES COMPANY Baked Edibles Inc. Victoria

For me, I can smoke lots of cannabis and concentrates, but edibles I have a really low tolerance for. So I’ve always had a hard time finding edibles that are accurately dosed. I can take what says it’s a five-milligram edible and the next thing I know I am on cloud nine… floating! And others, I’ll take the same amount and get nothing. The most reliable and consistent edible brand that I’ve had is Baked Edibles. Their gummies are amazing.

Don’t be the lowest-hanging fruit in the industry! A wise person once told me: “If you’re going to do this, be diligent and have a high level of responsibility.”

Yes, it’s civil disobedience, and, yes, it’s illegal, but at the same time don’t put yourself in a situation, like some companies do, where you become the lowest-hanging fruit in the industry.

Be respectful to the government; be respectful to Health Canada…at the end of the day, they’ve worked really hard on the rules and the laws that are coming out. We need to take a step back and appreciate what they’ve done.

Tantalus Labs Vancouver

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It’s tough. There are a lot of cool LPs. I really like Tantalus Labs. [Founder] Dan [Sutton] is awesome. I just respect the way Dan worked his way through the system. I think he said it took them something like 1,898 days to actually get their sales licence. They had massive problems from the city and whatnot, but they managed to push through and get their sales licence. So I respect the hard work they put in, all the perseverance they had to go through to actually get to where they are, and the final product speaks for itself. It’s pretty tasty.

FAVOURITE WAY TO CONSUME

Visit: vancouver.ca

I like dabbing. My favourite way to consume is actually consuming my concentrates. I like effects the best, I like the purity of them and being able to taste more of the actual profile of the plant. When you’re smoking a joint you do as well, but you’re combusting it at such a higher temperature, where with concentrates you can control the pin-pointed temperature. I find that it’s better for the effects and f lavour profile.

App: VanConnect

BEST CANNABIS CONCENTRATES COMPANY

Educate before you operate at vancouver.ca/cannabis

Phone: 3-1-1 TTY: 7-1-1

12 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

Holistek Vancouver

I’m biased towards my own…Holistek! I, of course, have a soft spot for my own company. I know and trust that the products are high-quality and clean. As for other companies doing it really well, from what I’ve seen, there’s a Victoria-based company called Everlasting [Extracts]. They produce really clean concentrates. Another one that does a really great job is Kind Selections.

What Health Canada has done— specifically, how they’ve pushed through the Cannabis Act and opened the door for small producers and growers—is huge.

– Philip Kwong

BEST MUNCHIES SOLUTION Field and Social 415 Dunsmuir Street

Cobb salad, no onions.

FAVOURITE CANNABIS TWITTER FEED @VerpMedia, @DSutton1986, and @TrinaFraser

Verp is hilarious just because it’s a playful mockery of the industry. The headlines always look so serious, then you start reading it and it’s the total opposite. Verp is always entertaining.

Dan [Sutton] is also a good one to follow. For knowledge and information, I like Trina Fraser’s feed. She always has the most up-to-date information of what’s going on in the industry.

FAVOURITE STONED ACTIVITY

I love walking around the seawall.

One of my favourite things to do at the end of the day—especially in the summer right when the sun is starting to set—is walking around the Yaletown side with my dog, hanging out on the seawall and smoking a joint. I like stopping at that point just before you get to English Bay.

What Health Canada has done—specifically, how they’ve pushed through the Cannabis Act and opened the door for small producers and growers—is huge. Be respectful and humble.

BEST PIECE OF ADVICE FOR CANADIANS GOING INTO LEGALIZATION

Be open-minded. At the end of the day, legalization is not going to be what everyone wanted. It’s going to take time. This is the first wave of legalization, but it’s not “Prohibition 2.0”.

It’s Canada moving forward as a G7 country. Cannabis is legal. It’s a big deal. So, be open-minded; be patient.

I know it’s tough on patients; they definitely didn’t get everything they wanted.

Being a patient myself, we definitely didn’t get the access we wanted, or the products and varieties. But be patient.

It will come. Canada is working hard.

Justin Trudeau did put his best effort forward in what he was trying to do and Canada is actively looking to continue to improve what’s going on in the Cannabis Act and the regulations. The biggest thing is patience.

by Piper Courtenay

OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 13

OPINION

Meet the independents vying for votes

V

by Charlie Smith

ancouver voters are faced with a bewildering number of choices on the ballot.

Political parties have various ways to let the public know about their candidates. But it’s not as easy for independents, who don’t have campaign teams and who can’t pool donations to buy advertising.

So in our Best of Vancouver issue, we’ve decided to shine a spotlight on some of them. These snapshots should not be considered endorsements—merely guidance for voters to be aware of in case they want to conduct more research.

These candidates also represent political views from across the spectrum. They’re not bound by any party policies, either, so they’re not beholden to shadowy backroom political operators.

Keep in mind that if an independent loses in 2018 but still attracts a large number of votes, this person could be recruited by a political party to run in the future.

We saw that in 2005 when a former independent council candidate, George Chow, was elected with Vision Vancouver.

Chow is now a cabinet minister in the NDP government. The springboard for his political career was a strong run as an independent council candidate in 2002.

So even if you cast a ballot for an independent and this independent loses, your vote may not be wasted.

Think of it as an investment in this candidate’s political future, particularly if they generate enough votes to put themselves into a position to be elected in a subsequent campaign, either municipally, provincially, or federally. Campaigns are great learning experiences and we applaud all of them for putting their names forward in a sincere effort to serve the residents of Vancouver.

TAQDIR KAUR BHANDAL

A keen environmentalist, Bhandal wants the city to draw upon Indigenous and global approaches to decrease the burning of carbon and promote zero-waste practices. A PhD candidate at UBC, she’s also an advocate for a drastic increase in the supply of and access to affordable housing.

Bhandal has created a website that outlines her views. Her PhD dissertation is on decolonial, intersectional pedagogies in Canadian medical and nursing education.

Council candidate Taqdir Kaur Bhandal is promoting an intersectional perspective to achieving environmental solutions; Sarah Blyth says her priority is affordable housing; Adrian Crook is a cofounder of Abundant Housing Vancouver, which supports densification of single-family zones.

“I cut my institutional teeth at the Dalhousie University Global Health Office as a Program Assistant during my time living in Halifax,” Bhandal states on her website. “My work there focused mainly on the Advocates in Global Health Program (AGHP). The Global Health Office at Dalhousie University developed the AGHP with the aim to provide students with a holistic understanding of key issues in global health. This extra-curricular program is unique in its goal to promote interprofessional and student-faculty collaboration to allow learners to develop critical analysis of global health issues.”

During this campaign, she’s given a great deal of thought to how Vancouver can adapt to rising sea levels, storm surges, and increased rainfall.

She also wrote a commentary on Straight.com introducing herself to readers of this website and explaining her political priorities.

You can follow Taqdir Kaur Bhandal on Twitter @taqforcouncil. She hopes to become the first woman of South Asian ancestry to be elected to Vancouver city council.

SARAH BLYTH

Perhaps the city’s best-known independent candidate, Blyth is a former park commissioner and executive director of the Overdose Prevention Society. She became a hero to many Vancouverites when she and Ann Livingston created a pop-up supervised-injection tent in the Downtown Eastside in response to the fentanyl crisis.

The society that she helped create is seen as a lifesaver by public-health officials and emergency responders.

“My priority will be affordable

housing,” Blyth told the Georgia Straight earlier this year. “More housing for the homeless, more coop housing, more modular housing, more housing in general. Because everybody I know is having trouble.

“And I want to work on behalf of all the frontline workers down here [in the Downtown Eastside], including ambulance and fire,” she continued.

“I understand what they’re all going through right on the frontlines. All the city workers and frontline workers in the crisis and the folks who are in the middle of the crisis, I think I understand what they need. So they would have a voice on council really pushing for what needs to be done.”

HERE’S A CHANCE for Vancouver

voters to look candidates in the eye.

A forum using the so-called worldcafé format will be held at the RayCam Cooperative Centre (920 East Hastings Street) on Tuesday (October 9), from 5:30 to 9 p.m.

The world-café method is designed to engage multiple participants in several rounds of smallgroup discussions, allowing topics to be hashed out from various perspectives. At the Ray-Cam event,

604.685.7786 •t 1412-675 West Hastings Street Vancouver 14 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

ADRIAN CROOK

You can follow Sarah Blyth on Crook is a cofounder of Abundant Twitter @sarahblyth.

Housing Vancouver and the author of the 5 Kids 1 Condo blog.

A well-known urbanist and videoGRAHAM COOK A former Vision Vancouver sup- game maker, Crook has created an porter, Cook abandoned the party attractive website offering a detailed because he was dissatisfied with its platform in a number of areas.

The cornerstone is fast-tracking and handling of the housing issue.

“I was angry at seeing workers incentivizing construction of housing leave and companies refuse expan- with community benefits, such as pursion. I was angry at watching friends pose-built rental, land trusts that are and family move elsewhere in order immune to speculation, co-ops, and to start a life,” he writes on his web- buildings that house seniors.

He wants homeowners to be able site. “However, over the past months, as I’ve met more and more Vancou- to redevelop new forms of accommoverites and discussed the issues with dation on their own lots and prezone them, that anger has been replaced by the city’s lowest-density areas.

One of his ideas is an “Affordable hope and a desire to serve this city.

Housing Accountability dashboard”.

According to his website, this would “report to Vancouver residents how the City is improving key measures of livability: rental vacancy rate, empty homes, evictions, demolicandidates for mayor and council tion replacement ratio, median rent, will each address the crowd for three population forecasts, housing creminutes. They will then individually ation rate and more”. sit down at tables to engage people You can follow Adrian Crook on in a dialogue. After 15 minutes, canTwitter @adriancrook. didates will move to another table.

The results of these talks will be shared from a broad perspective at HAMDY EL-RAYES the end of the meeting.

Founder of the H. R. Mental WellIt will be interesting to see how ness Centre, El-Rayes is the author of candidates will be able to connect Mental Wellness: A Spiritual Journey with the public in this type of closeand a former Green candidate in the range meeting. A long history of provincial constituency of Vancoubroken campaign promises has bred ver-Fairview. distrust of politicians in some voters.

“The City of Vancouver has been Candidates who come across as singoing through the worst housing cere and convince voters that their crisis ever,” he states on his website. word is their bond might get an edge.

“The majority of the millennials This year’s October 20 election is are unable to afford buying a home a crowded field, with 21 candidates to call their own. The crisis has exfor mayor and 71 candidates vying tended from unaffordability of ownfor 10 seats on council. ing to unavailability of affordable see page 16

F orum OF THE WEEK October 20 is voting day. Stephen Hui photo.

I am excited by the energy and passion being shown by residents across the political spectrum, and I now know that this time will be different.”

He’s president of the Huntington Society’s B.C. chapter and is a project manager in the tech industry.

Cook is not soliciting donations for his campaign. Instead, he’s encouraging supporters to donate to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society or other worthwhile charities.

He describes himself as a “young progressive” and he’s an advocate for sustainable transportation and reconciliation with First Nations.

You can follow Graham Cook on Twitter @kgrahamcook.

OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 15

OPINION

Wade Grant, Françoise Raunet, and Erin Shum (Stephen Hui photo) are no strangers to politics—Grant sat on the Vancouver police board and the Musqueam Nation council, Raunet ran twice for the B.C. Greens in Vancouver–Point Grey, and Shum is a park commissioner who left the NPA caucus.

from page 14 rental housing. I am campaigning for an affordable, livable, drug-addiction-free city.”

He’s calling for more housing on UBC’s Point Grey campus, which would lead to more rental inventory in Vancouver. He notes that the cost of doing this at UBC is far less than on land in Vancouver.

“About 25% of the city households live on less than $35,000 a year,” he states. “The City is in dire need to protect existing low-rental housing inventory from demo-eviction and establish bylaws to secure housing for tenants in case developers request demolition of their buildings.”

He’s also calling for disallowing Airbnb until the city has enough rental units to house its residents and it’s able to enforce its bylaw on shortterm accommodation.

You can follow Hamdy El-Rayes on Twitter @DrHRayes.

JUSTIN CAUDWELL

He has created a website, produced a campaign video, and promised to be the voice of millennials on council. He’s also an employee of Marine Chrysler, and an ardent capitalist, and features a photo of Stephen Harper beside him on his Twitter feed.

That should give you some idea about where he lies on the political spectrum. He makes no secret of his disdain for socialism.

“I was born in Vancouver in 1988 and have lived here ever since,” Caudwell writes on his website. “As a millennial Vancouverite, I understand the pain our lower class communities, and our younger population are feeling due to our current real estate crisis. I believe most young people in Vancouver have given up on the entire political process due to them feeling underrepresented by government. Myself, along with thousands of citizens agree that this is my generation’s time to step up and take leadership. Instead of waiting and complaining, I’ve decided to run for City Council.”

An advocate for greater density, he’s tweeted that no matter where a roof is, if it’s under three storeys, land is being wasted.

You can follow Justin Caudwell on Twitter @jacecaudwell.

WADE GRANT

A former Musqueam councillor and former member of the Vancouver police board, Grant is promising “leadership that embraces diversity”.

His family is of mixed Chinese and Indigenous ancestry—and on his website, he describes the city’s diversity as “our capital that will help us lead the world in figuring out how to live together with hope and harmony for a better future, in spite of our differences”.

“My entire life, people throughout the community, my mentors and my family have instilled in me the values needed to be a leader that everyone can trust,” he writes. “They have taught me to be a leader who listens with humility, embraces people from all walks of life and works diligently to build a consensus. I continue to live and breathe those virtues.”

A father of two, Grant has received endorsements from First Nations leaders, including B.C. Assembly of First Nations regional Chief Terry Teegee and Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs vice president Chief Bob Chamberlin.

16 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

You can follow Wade Grant on A member of the German CanTwitter @WadeGrant. adian Business Association, Porter has great sympathy for small-business owners facing huge challenges ABUBAKAR KHAN A third-year sociology student at with higher property taxes.

Her campaign slogan is “clean, UBC, Abubakar Khan hosts a podcast called The Chosen One that green, with an accessible scene”.

“Businesses that have been around tackles serious issues, including mental health, addiction, racism, and for 30 to 40 years are going under and being shut down at alarming homelessness.

His platform focuses on ending rates,” she writes on her website. “We isolation and loneliness in the city need to support our small business through several means, including owners, especially those who are part using the property-endowment fund of the fabric of community and make to build affordable housing and en- Vancouver the interesting place it is couraging intergenerational housing, today.”

You can follow Elke Porter on with seniors and young people under the same roof. This includes creat- Twitter @ElkePorter. ing renter-placement platforms and bylaws to improve safety for seniors. FRANÇOISE RAUNET Khan also helped organize a day Raunet is a French-immersion teachagainst racial discrimination in Van- er in Vancouver and ran for the B.C. couver, raised funds for the Alma Greens in Vancouver–Point Grey Mater Society food bank, and worked in 2011 and 2013, losing to Christy with the Sikh community to feed the Clark the first time and to David Eby homeless through his mosque. the second time.

“He opened the doors of his reliRaunet is a progressive candidate gious community centre to those in who is keenly aware of the seriousness need of shelter in the freezing winter of the climate crisis. storms of 2017, and brought 1,500 “Addiction, homelessness and people together in front of a blazing hopelessness plague our communOlympic Cauldron to rally the City ities,” she writes on her website. “Nain commemoration of innocent lives ture is crying for help too. Species are lost to a lone wolf gunman,” Khan’s going extinct faster than ever. The website states. oceans are filling with plastic, and The American-born Khan has also fresh water supplies are dwindling. opposed the caste system in South The next few decades are crucial if we Asia. He’s a Rajput by birth but in- are to survive the 21st century.” sists that he has no right to feel suShe’s calling for renewable energy perior to a Jatt or Pathan. And he’s grids, grants for artisan carts and urged other Pakistani-Canadians to small business, and protection for reject these views too. renters.

You can follow Abubakar Khan on “When developers and global corTwitter @khan4council. porations come asking for favours we need a city council made up of people willing to push back in the public’s inROB McDOWELL A former diplomat who speaks f luent terest,” Raunet declares. “I am one of Mandarin, McDowell is also a keen those people.”

You can follow Françoise Raunet supporter of the arts and a member of the city’s LGBTQ advisory on Twitter @FrancoiseRaunet. committee.

On his website, he promises that if ERIN SHUM he’s elected, he “will use his mediation Elected as an NPA park commisand diplomatic skills to ensure that sioner in 2014, Shum has worked steady, strong and effective leadership with and been an advocate for chilreturns to the governance of Vancou- dren on the autism spectrum. She ver City Council”. also opposed higher user fees at the He’s received hearty endorsements park board, which set her apart from from three councillors not seeking other commissioners. reelection: George Aff leck, Elizabeth She left the NPA caucus after Ball, and Tim Stevenson. alleging she was being bullied—a According to Stevenson, McDow- claim that’s been denied by her forell helped the LGBTQ advisory com- mer colleagues—and is now seekmittee bring forward several motions ing to be elected to council as an to council, “including those related independent. Shum was the comto banning conversion therapy, es- missioner who voted against a parktablishing an LGBTQ archive, a board motion calling for an end to provincial policy for rainbow cross- the display of cetaceans at the Vanwalks and other LGBTQ representa- couver Aquarium. tion, and the ways our community She’s received several endorsecan assist our aging population”. ments, including from Green council Aff leck stated that he’s known candidate Michael Wiebe and soonMcDowell since 1985 and believes to-depart NPA councillor Elizabeth that he’s one of the best candidates Ball. running for office.

Shum’s website focuses on several “His ability to listen carefully, issues, including childcare and senunderstand complex reports and iors care, safe streets, and complete think logically will help him in this communities. position immensely,” Aff leck stated.

“Erin’s plan for complete comYou can follow Rob McDowell on munities includes: reducing parking Twitter @R_McDowell. rates and increasing parking time limits in certain areas, expediting permitting for commercial and resiELKE PORTER A long-time resident of Vancouver, dential building, renovations, and Porter is f luently bilingual in English remodeling, providing more fundand German and is a keen environ- ing and autonomy to the Park Board mentalist with an interest in arts and to maintain, update and retrofit culture. She also runs the Westcoast vital infrastructure, and better preGerman News blog and has been paring our city for emergencies,” her involved in many volunteer ac- website states.

You can follow Erin Shum on tivities, including with her parent Twitter @ErinYVR. advisory council.

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No end in sight for overdoses The B.C. Coroners Service’s latest monthly report paints a grim picture

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• 72 percent lived in a private residence, while 13 percent lived in supportive or social housing, and only nine percent were homeless; • 69 percent were alone when they used the drugs that killed them; • and 65 percent had never been married (compares to 27 percent of B.C.’s adult population).

The data sample analyzed for the report consisted of 872 illicit-drugoverdose deaths that occurred in B.C. in 2016 and 2017.

An earlier report published in August 2017 states that from February 2015 to July 2016, Indigenous people in B.C. were three times more likely to die of a drug overdose than nonIndigenous people.

Indigenous women were found to be especially vulnerable. The document states that Indigenous women were eight times more likely to overdose and five times more likely to suffer a fatal overdose compared to non-Indigenous women.

According to the coroners service’s latest monthly report, fentanyl was associated with 81 percent of overdose deaths during the first six months of 2018 and 84 percent of deaths in 2017.

“Illicit fentanyl–detected deaths appear to account for the increase in illicit drug overdose deaths since 2012 as the number of illicit drug overdose deaths excluding fentanyl-detected has remained relatively stable since 2011,” the report reads.

“A review of completed cases from 2016-18 indicates that the top four detected drugs relevant to illicit drug overdose deaths were fentanyl (76%), cocaine (48%), methamphetamine/ amphetamine (31%), and heroin (23%).”

B.C.’s chief coroner, Lisa Lapointe, is quoted in the report as encouraging people who choose to use drugs to do so in as safe a manner as possible.

“Illicit drugs continue to be the source of more than three deaths per day in B.C.,” Lapointe says. “Our expanded analysis confirms that more than two-thirds of these illicit drug deaths in 2016 and 2017 involve people using alone and indoors. We know this leads to a higher risk for death with a toxic drug supply.

“We continue to urge those using substances to plan to take them in the company of someone who can provide help: administering naloxone and calling 911 for assistance.”

H O W E

B.C.’s crisis has plateaued.

During the first eight months of 2018, there was an average of 121.5 deaths per month. During the previous year, the average was 121.

Compare these numbers to five years earlier, when, in 2013—the year the dangerous synthetic opioid fentanyl arrived in B.C.—there was an average of 27.6 overdose deaths per month, and to 2012, when there were 22.8.

A separate report released by the coroners service last week (September 27) provides the clearest picture yet of the sorts of citizens these statistics represent.

The investigation’s main findings: • 77 percent of people who died of a drug overdose were “regular or chronic users” of illicit drugs; • 79 percent had contact with the health-care system during the year preceding their death; of those, 56 percent had sought treatment for physical pain; • 81 percent were male; • 44 percent were employed at the time they died;

ST

he B.C. Coroners Service’s latest monthly report on the province’s drug-overdose crisis once again suggests there is no end in sight.

The report, which covers to the end of August 2018, states there were 98 fatal overdoses in B.C. that month.

It brings the total for the year to 972, which equates to a projected 1,458 for all of 2018. That compares to 1,452 in 2017 and 993 the year before that.

In 2018, the rate of fatal overdoses for the city of Vancouver stands at 56.1 per 100,000 people—an astronomical figure that is now almost 10 times what the rate of overdoses was for Vancouver 10 years earlier (6.1 per 100,000 in 2008).

“The three townships experiencing the highest number of illicit drug overdoses in 2018 are Vancouver, Surrey, and Victoria,” the document reads.

It notes that 98 deaths in August is down 27 percent from the previous month and down 20 percent from August 2017. However, 98 overdose deaths in a single month is still miles above what was once considered “normal”.

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There were 98 fatal overdoses in British Columbia in August, according to the latest report from the B.C. Coroners Service. Photo by Travis Lupick

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BOOKS

Cool sounds echo from Cellar

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LIVE AT THE CELLAR

By Marian Jago. UBC Press, 364 pp, softcover

JAZZ IN VANCOUVER has a surprisingly long history, predating even the legendary pianist and composer Jelly Roll Morton’s 1919–21 residency at the Patricia Hotel’s lounge. A century later, that locale is still a jazz venue, but other rooms and even entire genres of jazz have all but disappeared here, leaving little in the way of documentary evidence. Evanescent in its nature, a discipline of being in the moment, jazz is and should be resistant to codification.

Which, of course, doesn’t mean that its artifacts can’t be collected and cherished, or its history written down. Too little of that work has been done in this city, and University of Edinburgh lecturer Marian Jago’s Live at the Cellar, which sports the unwieldy subtitle Vancouver’s Iconic Jazz Club and the Canadian Co-operative Jazz Scene in the 1950s and ’60s, is a welcome start.

The original Cellar, as opposed to saxophonist Cory Weeds’s now-shuttered nightclub, was a basement room at 2514 Watson Street, near the intersection of Broadway and Main Street. From 1956 to 1963 it was a number of different things: a collectively managed workshop space for progressive musicians; a venue for cutting-edge imports such as Wes Montgomery, Ornette Coleman, and Charles Mingus; and perhaps most importantly, a local launching pad for the kind of interdisciplinary thinking that would blossom here in the later 1960s.

As such, Live at the Cellar deserves an audience beyond jazz aficionados: in a town that tends to endlessly reinvent the wheel, it tells how the first wheel was forged. Or, as Jago puts it in her lengthy, sociological introduction, “Even once a scene has lost its power.‌the social connections formed through participation in scenes do much to enable the social interactions upon which urban living depends.â€? Sixty years on, those connections, however attenuated, still animate artist-run underground venues such as Merge, Sawdust Collector, and 8EAST. That link isn’t explicitly made in Live at the Cellar, but its collected anecdotal accounts sound uncannily familiar. When drummer Chuck Logan says that the Cellar was “the school of musicâ€? where young musicians could learn to be their best selves, he could be talking about any of the above “listening roomsâ€?—and it’s this contemporary resonance that might be Jago’s greatest contribution to improvised music in Vancouver. It’s wonderful to hear about the early days of such significant cultural figures

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The Cellar was home to international jazz stars and a local scene that included players like Jim Carney. Photo by George Sedawie

as pianist and interdisciplinary artist Al Neil, internationally acclaimed drummer Terry Clarke, and the gifted but doomed saxophonist Dale Hillary—but what really should be taken away from this book is that scenes such as theirs are what produce culture, and as such deserve more civic and media support than they presently get.

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ulitzer Prize–winning journalist Chris Hedges’s latest book, America: The Farewell Tour, is no rallying cry. There is no call for a march on Washington or for “the resistance” to redouble its efforts to rid the White House of a growing threat to democracy. America: The Farewell Tour is a diagnosis and lamentation. A tear shed for a country that once inspired, and for its citizens who have become the collateral damage of one small faction’s insatiable thirst for wealth.

Hedges does not blame U.S. president Donald Trump for America’s decay.

“Trump is not the disease, he is a symptom,” Hedges tells the Straight by phone, ahead of a Wednesday (October 10) event in North Vancouver.

“Demagogues have a kind of appeal among an enraged, betrayed population, because despite whatever vulgarity and imbecility they exhibit, they nevertheless ridicule the established elites, the way Trump does,” Hedges explains. “And to a population that has been manipulated, lied to, and used by these elites, that is kind of cathartic. But it’s dangerous, because it takes very weakened structures and debilitates them further. That is what we are witnessing right now.”

Hedges has reported on this phenomenon before, as a foreign correspondent in El Salvador and during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, for example. He has witnessed the appeal of an individual willing to embrace fascism and the powers they can wield over a population so discontented it is ready to embrace violence.

In America: The Farewell Tour, Hedges notes this pattern in examples that go back as far as humans have organized themselves into larger societies. The Egyptians, the Romans, the Mayans, the people of the Indus Valley civilization… Hedges lists them off.

“They elevated, during acute distress, inept and corrupt leaders who channeled anger, fear, and dwindling resources into self-defeating wars and vast building projects,” he writes in the book. “These ruling elites, consumed

Societies in acute distress form what anthropologists call ‘crisis cults’, which promise to recover grandeur.

– Chris Hedges

Fo r e x h i b i t i o n a n d t i c k e t i n g i n f o r m a t i o n :

22 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

by greed and hedonism, retreated into privileged compounds—the Forbidden City, Versailles. They hoarded wealth as their populations endured mounting misery, hunger, and poverty. The worse it got, the more people lied to themselves and the more they wanted to be lied to.

“Societies in acute distress often form what anthropologists call ‘crisis cults’,” Hedges continues, “which promise to recover grandeur and empowerment during times of collapse, anxiety, and disempowerment. A mythologized past will magically return. America will be great again.”

In 2018, Hedges looks around America and sees the opioid epidemic, increasing suicide rates, and the election of a crude misogynist who enthusiastically preys on people’s anxieties and manipulates their fears.

According to journalist Chris Hedges, the woes of his country are the direct result of late capitalism and its blind faith in neoliberal economic theory.

“When you break social bonds, when people live with a kind of hopelessness and despair, they seek various forms of self-annihilation,” he states. “These diseases of despair—gambling, sexual sadism, opioids, suicide—this is what happens in degenerated societies.”

Hedges identifies these societal ills as symptoms of inequality, and inequality as a result of the onset of late-stage capitalism and western society’s blind faith in neoliberal economic theory (a lie without evidence and mere “ideology to justify rule and greed”, he asserts).

“All the signs of late capitalism, as identified by [Karl] Marx, are evident around us,” Hedges says. “The predatory nature of corporations in terms of cannibalizing the very governmental and institutional structures that make a democratic, capitalist society possible. The inability to carry out piecemeal or incremental reform, both in terms of economic and political policy.

The complete domination of both the economy and the political system by a cabal—in this case, a corporate cabal— that redirects all of the institutions and mechanisms towards its further consolidation of power and its enrichment.”

There is no saviour in the Republican party.

“Unfortunately, it is not just Trump,” Hedges emphasizes. “It is the Republican party that is aiding and abetting this dismantling because, in terms of policy—i.e., federalist judges, tax cuts, and the structure of the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency]— Trump is giving the corporate elites who manage the Republican party what they want.”

Nor is there any salvation in the Democratic party, or any chance of it reclaiming the role of a check on power in this November’s U.S. midterm election.

“The Democratic party under Clinton, in essence, became the Republican party, and the Republican party was pushed so far to the right it became insane,” Hedges says. “But on all of the substantial issues—in terms of empire, in terms of globalization, in terms of the assault on civil liberties—there is no difference. And with the rejection of the established elites in both parties, Trump is increasingly able to transform the Republican party into a kind of personality cult.”

A cult that enough people appear ready to follow, Hedges adds. “We are witnessing the possible extinction of the very forms of democracy,” he says, “including a respect for the rule of law, civil discourse.”

Chris Hedges discusses America: The Farewell Tour at the BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts on Wednesday (October 10).

HIGH TECH

Altcoin is a crypto-education

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by Kate Wilson

VANCOUVER’S BEST THRILLS & CHILLS

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Vancouver software engineer Tom Chan created the virtual trading game Altcoin Fantasy to educate players about the real-world cryptocurrency market, in the hopes that individuals would think critically and inform themselves before investing their cash.

ortunes were lost when the Bitcoin bubble popped. Near the end of 2017, one unit of the digital currency had been worth US$17,900. Just 52 days later, its value had crashed by 65 percent, with other major cryptocurrencies— like Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash—suffering similar shocks. Anyone who had poured their dollars into crypto at the height of its hype lost huge amounts of money.

Vancouver software engineer Tom Chan, however, saw an opportunity to help. His friends and family had invested in the currencies at the worst time, with few truly understanding what they were or how they operated.

Deciding to put his knowledge of the gaming industry to work, he created a virtual trading game identical to the real-world crypto market in the hope that individuals would think critically and educate themselves before placing cash investments.

“About two years ago…people had just started getting into the crypto space without doing their due diligence,” he tells the Georgia Straight by phone during a visit to Hope. “The thought was, ‘I can get rich quick, because someone has already gotten rich, so I’m going to spend my whole life savings on it.’ For me, it’s not right. It’s not a sound way to invest.

“There was an information issue, where people created these ideas but there was no transparency behind it,” he continues. “We thought, ‘Why don’t we create an educational game where we introduce people to different blockchain

projects and cryptocurrencies while having fun trading them?’ For us, we wanted to make sure that people don’t keep losing money, and we wanted to have a safe and a risk-free way to have people experiment with it.”

The game, named Altcoin Fantasy, is easy to play. An individual who signs

About two years ago…people had just started getting into the crypto space without doing their due diligence.…For me, it’s not right.

It’s not a sound way to invest – Tom Chan

up to the free website or app chooses an in-game contest to join. Every wannabe trader starts out with US$100,000 and is able to buy any cryptocurrency or ICO token that they wish. More than 2,000 coins are open to invest in, each tagged with performance graphs and information about their special characteristics or the products that they are

tied to. At the end of the competition, the person who has made the most virtual money from their picks wins, with prizes ranging from real-world crypto like Bitcoin or Ethereum to subscriptions for trading analysis tools.

“We provide you with the names and info about the coins to get you more into the research mode,” Chan says. “The other thing is that if you just don’t know what to buy, we actually show you what the leaders are holding.

We are very transparent as to what the top players are trading, just from an educational perspective, so you can look at those coins and see how that person got to where they are, and research that way. That’s been helpful for a lot of our users.”

In Chan’s opinion, it’s important that all people start to get comfortable with understanding crypto and blockchain, especially because it’s his belief that the technology will eventually underpin some of the world’s most important services.

“The statistics are that less than one percent of people hold cryptocurrency. We think that for the 99 percent of people out there, they haven’t been really exposed to it. I believe that blockchain technologies and projects are going to drive the next innovation wave. I don’t think all of them are going to do well, but I think that for the underlying blockchain that powers a lot of these projects, there is real merit with decentralization and specific applications. Altcoin Fantasy gives you a safe space to learn.”

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by Rose Marcus

Thank you to everybody who voted for me!

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The best way to support a community is to be a part of it.

Thank you for recognizing RBC in the 23rd annual Georgia Straight Best of Vancouver readers’ poll.

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t’s about the money; it’s about the relationship. It’s about the sex, the hidden agenda, the scandal, the addiction, the big turnaround. Venus in Scorpio stations retrograde on Friday at 12:05 p.m. Backing into Libra on October 31, Venus will continue in retrograde motion through November 16. This retrograde cycle happens only once every 18 months. Holding significance for all, the transit is of especially high (perhaps life-altering) impact if it hits your chart directly.

Venus retrograde is an exposingand-strip-it-away transit. Peeling it back layer by layer, Venus aims to drill right into the core of the issue, obsession, or motivation. Therein lies the power source. Does it empower and support growth, or is it an undermining and destructive force?

All retrograde transits set up relive and review. Venus retrograde, the net-worth, self-worth planet, prompts an important reevaluation process.

To paraphrase Mick Jagger, you can’t always get what you want, but like it or not, this go-deeper transit puts us directly in touch with what is most essential to address, what is most needed for the soul’s evolution (yours, mine, ours).

Venus retrograde is an intensified karmic call-it-forth transit. It dials up unresolved emotions and the unfinished matters of relationships. Key matters up for review: trust, jealousy, manipulation, betrayal, abandonment, codependency, enmeshment.

From this life or a past life, Venus retrograde will often reconnect you to a lover or to something or someone of significant inf luence. A sense of déjà vu or a compelling attraction is your clue that the recall holds something of great importance.

Happy Thanksgiving!

OCTOBER 4 TO 10, 2018

secure do you feel regarding your financial bottom lines or your emotional comfort zone? Starting Friday, Venus retrograde in Scorpio takes you on a deeper dive into your emotions, motivations, safety, and security issues. Tuesday/Wednesday can crack it open or jettison you unexpectedly.

Start a conversation, renovation, new project, or new life.

VIRGO

August 22–September 22

You could have a major change of mind or heart as Venus tours retrograde. A relationship matter, circumstance, or conversation you thought was a done deal could be up for further review. Tuesday/ Wednesday, start a new job or project; dive into fresh tasks; test-drive the new. You make a significant breakthrough. Don’t take a risk on anything or anyone suspicious. Accidents can happen.

LIBRA

September 22–October 23

What is it worth to you?

Should you stay the course? Do you feel trapped? Do you have what it takes? So many questions; the answers will reveal themselves. You have more going for you than you may realize. Venus challenges you to find your inner strength and recommit to the improvement you want and need. Tuesday/Wednesday, the dial is set at high impact.

SCORPIO

October 23–November 21

It’s regroup time! Venus begins retrograde in Scorpio on Friday.

The transit allows you extra time to figure yourself out, to take a more honest look at what makes you tick. Ultimately, this stripping-away process will lead you right to the source of your power base. Tuesday through Thursday, exARIES pect to find it, cut to the chase, and/or March 20–April 19 Personal investments at all hit the ground running. levels are up for a major review during Venus retrograde. How much do SAGITTARIUS you trust yourself, another, or the way November 21–December 21 things are going? Mercury in Scorpio, There’s more going on than starting Tuesday, sharpens your radar. meets the eye. Perhaps you are aware, Next Wednesday is a big-reveal day. or perhaps elements are hidden from Watch for someone or something un- you, too. Venus retrograde keeps it expected to trigger the action. Risk is on brew but not in full view. Take in the mix. Act, don’t react. Be careful time out to observe, soul-search, and when driving. feel your way along. The transit also keeps your radar on high alert regarding others. Tuesday/Wednesday TAURUS puts you in the know, perhaps unApril 20–May 20 Trust can be a sore point expectedly so. when Venus travels retrograde. While the tendency is to feel cheated and to CAPRICORN lay blame, soul-searching is in order.

December 21–January 19 Have you undermined yourself? What Important decisions weigh expectations have you held on to and on your mind. Venus retrograde can are they realistic? On the positive, you see you rethink a goal or plan, or raise could receive empowering advice, en- more questions about your future. It’s couragement, or feedback. Tuesday to a good time to pull back from overThursday, there’s no skirting around it, commitment, your social life, a comno time to waste. Act. munity or personal involvement. Too, you could reconnect or resume with someone important. Tuesday/WedGEMINI nesday sets big wheels/big change in May 21–June 21 Venus retrograde could see motion. you on a health relapse or a confidence backtrack. If so, know that you could AQUARIUS lose ground initially but the transit January 20–February 18 ultimately serves to point you in the Venus retrograde sets a whole direction of improvement and higher new reality into place, perhaps suddenground. Renovations, repairs, and ly so, next Tuesday/Wednesday. There loan renewals are also apt for Venus is no fence-sitting on this one. Off or retrograde. Tuesday/Wednesday can on, a full commitment is required. You see you on a major breakthrough with could be challenged by a legal matter (a someone or something. divorce), an authority figure, the needs of a parent, or a money issue, or need to exert your authority.

CANCER June 21–July 22

What is best for you? What or who claims your heart? Venus retrograde, starting Friday, takes you through an intensified questioning and soul-searching period. This karmic cycle can take you through another goround with a lover or a key someone.

It can be a potent gestational time for creative endeavour, career, health, and wealth-generating, too. Tuesday/Wednesday, it hits/changes in a flash.

LEO

July 22–August 22

What’s driving you? What’s going on at home? With family? How

PISCES

February 18–March 20

Where are you going and how are you going to get there? What does the future hold? The biggerpicture questions can preoccupy you through the Venus retrograde cycle. Tuesday to Thursday takes the guesswork out of it. Watch for a breakthrough, news, sudden inspiration, windfall opportunity, or the unexpected. Travel safe!

Find out what Venus retrograde holds for you. Book a reading or sign up for Rose’s free monthly newsletter at rosemarcus.com/.

Shameless Resale consignment store is a shopaholic’s dream (This story is sponsored by Shameless Resale.)

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ou spot them from across the room. Your heart skips a beat. Your eyes widen.

You start to feel sweat forming on your brow. You make a quick glance to your either side to make sure no one else has seen them. And now is your chance. Nothing can stand in your way. You make a beeline for them and they’re in your hands. Christian Louboutin. Mint condition. Crafted leather perfection. Red soles. With the box. And by some miraculous fate— in your size! Your feet were made for this moment. Your calves have never looked more sculpted. And you can afford them. Is this a dream?

No, it’s a consignment store—a magical place where your shopping aspirations become a reality. When we talk about some of the best feelings in the world, scoring something secondhand is surely one of them—especially if you’re a shopaholic. But even if you’ve never set foot in a consignment store before, there is a huge opportunity for you to indulge in some resale therapy. And thankfully, in Vancouver, there is no shortage of amazing spots to check out.

If you’ve been in on the consignment secret for a while, chances are that you’ve already met Courtney Hunter. With over a decade of experience in the industry, she founded her own store, Shameless Resale (3957 Main Street), in March of this year.

Courtney spends her time buying, selling, and authenticating, so that she can offer her customers a carefully curated selection of preloved pieces at great prices. She sources the best in brandname women’s clothing and accessories, meaning that you can expect to find everything from lululemon to Louis Vuitton. She even has clients who are so-

A model wears Brookes Boswell hat ($49.99), Zara culottes ($34.99), Wilfred blouse ($44.99), Zara coat ($49.99), and Louis Vuitton vintage leather “Speedy” purse ($895) at Shameless Resale.

cial media influencers, both locally and from L.A., meaning you can find pieces that have been worn to red carpet events.

“We’ve got Cartier sunglasses. We’ve got a brand new Gucci belt. We’ve probably got 200 pieces from Aritzia and some are with tags on,” Courtney says.

“We’re very lucky to have the selection we have. And I try to keep it rotating so that we have something for everybody.

We have a lot of designer stuff but I don’t like to be exclusively just that.”

In addition to being able to find some timeless and gorgeous items, you can also feel good in knowing that you’re supporting a local business and doing your bit for the environment as well. Talk about guilt-free shopping.

During the last 10 years, Courtney has seen firsthand a shift in the mindset toward buying resale. And these days, there is a certain cache that comes with being able to say you found something fabulous in a consignment store.

“It’s not fast fashion. It’s about respecting quality pieces,” she says.” I

can’t remember the last time that I bought something new from a retail store. I really believe in recycling and respecting beautiful things by repurposing and reusing them.”

And just because it’s secondhand doesn’t mean it’s not fashionable. With her years in the business, Courtney knows how to spot a trend. This season she says we can expect to see a lot of ‘80s inspired looks. Think leopard print, leather, dark florals, and boyfriendstyle pants—all of which can be snagged in-store right now. But with new stock coming in every day, the best way to ensure you don’t miss out is to stop by.

“We’re Shameless Resale,” says Courtney proudly. “We’re high-calibre consignment. But when we say high calibre, we mean it’s quality. We’re a curated boutique.”

Go to straight.com/contest/ now and enter for your chance to win a $150 shopping spree for Shameless Resale and follow the store on Instagram @shamelessresale.

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OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 25

26 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

BEST OF VANCOUVER

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ometimes, it seems there just isn’t enough time in the day for many of us. With school, work, commuting, and family duties—not to mention the high cost of housing and relentless taxation—it can feel like the fun is being sucked out of our lives in Vancouver. We’re like hamsters on a wheel, running ever faster just to stay in the same place.

This year, there are elections taking place in municipalities across the region, but it’s hard to keep up with who’s running when there are so many candidates. Some of us might like to relax and watch more Canucks games this season, but that’s not possible if you’re working two jobs to make ends meet. Others, no doubt, want to see more screenings at the Vancouver International Film Festival, which remains one of the marquee events on the city’s calendar. It’s hard to believe that VIFF is approaching middle age, but if you think of it in another way, this smorgasbord of cinema is just reaching its prime.

In this year’s Best of Vancouver issue, our 23rd, we’re featuring no shortage of Vancouver residents and organizations that can also be considered to have reached their prime.

Our annual online ballot elicits a massive response every year—in fact, the number of votes exceeds those that will be cast in quite a few local elections taking place across the province on October 20.

The winners of our election are listed in readers’-choice boxes throughout this issue in broad subject areas ranging from city life to food and drink, and from lifestyle to media, arts, and culture. When you come across these lists, remember that these are the people’s choices.

And the Straight is 100 percent for the people—to paraphrase one of our local mayoral candidates.

But the Straight is also populated by writers with their own takes on what’s best about our city. The Best of Vancouver is not merely populism run amok. For them, there’s considerable thought that goes into highlighting what’s worth celebrating and cherishing.

In the following pages, you can read their ref lections on what

by Martin Dunphy, Gail Johnson, Tammy Kwan, Lucy Lau, Travis Lupick, Carlito Pablo, Charlie Smith, Janet Smith, Craig Takeuchi, Mike Usinger, and Kate Wilson | Illustration by Jason Harper

inspires, amuses, encourages, enthralls, shocks, and even appalls them about living in our village by the sea.

These writers recognize that people don’t always have the time to explore every neighburhood or sample cuisine that came from recipes developed a half a world away. On occasion, they just want to read about them.

So set aside a few minutes, grab a cup of java or tea, and forget about all your stresses as you take in this year’s edition of the Best of Vancouver.

NEWS & POLITICS BEST POLITICAL CIVIL WAR

The NPA bloodbath was a sight to behold this year. First, former Conservative MP Wai Young declared that she had no faith in the process, so she didn’t even seek the party’s mayoral nomination. Coun. Hector Bremner jumped in, only to be told that he hadn’t been green-lit to put his name before the membership. The eventual winner of the NPA mayoral nomination, businessman Ken Sim, now risks going down to defeat because traditional NPA voters have migrated to Bremner’s Yes Vancouver and Young’s Coalition Vancouver.

Neither party would have existed

BEST

had these candidates been persuaded to remain inside the NPA tent by the party board. At the start of the year, it looked like the NPA directors had this election in the bag. By October 20, we’ll know if they’ve blown it bigtime. If so, it will be the NPA’s fourth straight loss since 2008. And you thought the Canucks were bad.

BEST DOUBLE-DOG DARE YA

Vancouver mayoral candidate Hector Bremner made a first-class dare in this year’s election season. Rejected by the Non-Partisan Association as an applicant for the NPA’s mayoral contest, Bremner left and formed his own party, Yes Vancouver. Asked if there was a chance he would go back and run for city council with NPA mayoral pick Ken Sim’s team, Bremner didn’t hesitate with an answer. “If Ken [Sim] would face a [NPA] runoff against us,” Bremner said. “You know, we were unfairly excluded from the race.” Sim would not comment on that issue.

BEST SIGN THAT VANCOUVER’S NEXT MAYOR MIGHT BE A NERD

These days, nerds have become hip.

It’s evident all over the place, and not just on The Big Bang Theory.

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that it’s the city’s hottest nerd bar.

Later this month, Fan Expo Vancouver will bring hordes of geeks to the Vancouver Convention Centre, some in costumes, in a celebration of sci-fi shows like Battlestar Galactica. But the biggest test of the city’s nerdiness will come on October 20, when an SFU electoral-system researcher and former MP, Kennedy Stewart, will find out if he’ll replace Gregor Robertson as Vancouver’s next mayor. Last year, Stewart coedited a book with Conservative MP Michael Chong and Scott Simms called Turning Parliament Inside Out: Practical Ideas for Reforming Canada’s Democracy.

Stewart’s chapter is entitled “Empowering the Backbench: The Story of Electronic Petitions”. In politics, things don’t get any nerdier than this. In light of the current mania around nerds, it’s surprising that Stewart’s campaign isn’t capitalizing on this with T-shirts proclaiming that Vancouver needs a geeky mayor to solve its most wrenching social problems. Enough of those pretty-boy politicians. Justin, Gregor, and Barack are so passé.

And everyone knows that Trump is plain obnoxious. But Kennedy Stewart: hey, that’s someone who’s a little different from the norm.

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SECOND-BEST SIGN THAT VANCOUVER’S NEXT MAYOR MIGHT BE A NERD

Shauna Sylvester is another bookish SFU policy wonk running to replace Gregor Robertson. The professor of public practice is not quite as nerdy as Stewart, and it’s inconceivable to think of her showing up looking like an X-Files character at Fan Expo Vancouver. But she still has a geeky side when it comes to researching solutions to the climate crisis. And she once supervised a group of students who compiled a “Green History of Vancouver Timeline” using Timeglider software. It highlighted everything from the creation of Harland Bartholomew’s original town plan to the establishment of the Agricultural Land Reserve and Greenpeace to the protection of Metro Vancouver’s watersheds from logging interests.

That’s kind of nerdy.

BEST SIGN THAT THE NEXT MAYOR MIGHT ANTHROPOMORPHIZE INFRASTRUCTURE

Coalition Vancouver candidate Wai Young is waging a war on “ideological bike lanes”. Hmmm… We never knew that civic infrastructure had a political disposition until now. What’s next? Ideological community centres?

Ideological sewers? Or our favourite: ideological heating and ventilation systems? Don’t you just love it when political candidates ascribe human characteristics to concrete barriers?

Thanks, Wai. BEST EXAMPLE OF CITY HALL FIGHTING CITY HALL

The City of Vancouver cannot always be taken at its word. It says one thing and does the other. It claims to support building new rental homes but acts like it does not. The circumstances surrounding a rental development in Marpole may be the best example. On account of lot frontage that was 42 inches short of qualifying for a certain floor-space ratio, city hall took its own board of variance to court to stop the development of a four-storey rental building at 308 West 62nd Avenue. Never mind that the board of variance has the authority under the Vancouver Charter to see page 29

OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 27

28 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

BEST OF VANCOUVER from page 27 decide appeals to decisions by the city’s planning department. Fortunately for the property owner, the court ruled against the city, allowing the rental project to proceed.

even being convicted in a court of law. Ouch!

BEST B.C. CANNABIS TWEETER

The honour goes to Kirk Tousaw. The lawyer for all things cannabis understands that Twitter has become an ideal public forum for responding in a concise way to the news of the day. And there’s no shortage of cannabis news as the country heads toward legalization on October 17. Follow him @kirktou saw. You’ll learn a great deal, and not just about cannabis.

BEST POWER FOR RENT CONTROL THE CITY DOESN’T USE

When it comes to landlords and renters, have you ever wondered on whose side the City of Vancouver really stands? Nathalie Baker, a litigator specializing in municipal law, seems to have a spot-on example.

According to her, the city has the authority under the Vancouver Charter to enter into housing agreements with developers of rental housing.

Section 565.2 of the charter provides that these agreements can include terms on “rents that may be charged and the rates at which rents may be increased over time”. But Baker notes that the city doesn’t use this particular section. The result is that developers get to charge practically whatever they want.

BEST PLACE TO OBSERVE THE SPEED LIMIT

The West Vancouver Police Department has one of the lightest workloads of any law-enforcement agency in Canada. Sure, there’s the occasional fraud case and sometimes they have to respond to domestic disputes in Canada’s richest community (average household net worth: $4.5 million).

But what really keeps the West Van cops busy is impounding speeding vehicles on the Upper Levels Highway. On one Monday night in February, three of them were hauled away, including one that was clocked at 187 kilometres per hour. Incidents like this get the happy drops flowing in TV newsrooms because they attract larger audiences. Who doesn’t love seeing some young punk losing his Lamborghini for a while after disrespecting the rules of the road? Especially when the cops are so eager to show the

MOST AMUSING CANNABIS TWEETER WHO USED TO LIVE IN VANCOUVER

That’s easy. It’s Tommy Chong. The world-famous stoner, comedian, and director regularly skewers Donald Trump, to the delight of his 480,000 followers. “I do enjoy trolling the Donald,” Chong declared in May. “So obvious and so evil.” Follow him @tommychong and find out why he thinks Agent Orange is going to end up in the crowbar hotel.

BEST REASON TO HOPE OUR HISTORY CAN CHANGE AMERICA

Photo by Fahim Kassam

BEST

WAY TO GET ON MOTHER NATURE’S GOOD SIDE

Sure, recycling and composting are cool, but those duties are child’s play in the grand scheme of our rapidly deteriorating environment. To really get into Mother Earth’s good books, try reducing your consumption of single-use plastics—a task that’s been made a little easier for Vancouverites thanks to the opening of Nada along with the Soap Dispensary & Kitchen Staples, two packaging-free grocers that are committed to zero waste. The launch of initiatives like Soapstand, a vending machine offering refills on household soaps and cleaners, also gives citizens one less excuse to cling to the disposable stuff. offending vehicle in the impound lot.

But the lesson is clear to motorists.

Don’t put your pedal to the metal in the region’s sleepiest burgh unless you want to rely on TransLink to help get you around in the future.

(and court-recognized expert in police radar) Grant Gottgetreu was asked about drug-impaired driving.

He boldly predicted that the B.C. government will eventually allow officers to dish out immediate roadside prohibitions to those suspected of being high on cannabis while behind BEST REASON NOT TO CONSUME the wheel. That will avoid the hassle CANNABIS BEFORE GETTING of having to drag people back to poBEHIND THE WHEEL At the Georgia Straight’s recent lice stations to determine if they’re Grassroots Expo, former traffic cop truly stoned. But there’s a problem

with IRPs, as they’re also called.

They’re attached to people’s driving records, which means this information is available to law-enforcement officers who merely punch licenceplate information into a database.

Gottgetreu explained at the conference that U.S. border agents have access to these types of databases. That means anyone with an IRP for driving high could be prevented from entering the United States for life without

The dangerous synthetic opioid fentanyl arrived in B.C. in 2013. Since then, fatal overdoses have soared, from 333 across the province that year to more than 1,450 in 2017. Vancouver experienced an epidemic like this once before. Though not as severe, a drug crisis in the 1990s killed thousands in Vancouver. The city responded in incredible ways, establishing North America’s first sanctioned supervised-injection facility, Insite, and successfully reducing overdose deaths. The Georgia Straight’s Travis Lupick asked himself what lessons from that crisis of the ’90s could be applied to save lives today as he wrote the book Fighting for Space: How a Group of Drug Users Transformed One City’s Struggle With Addiction. It shares the stories of Downtown Eastside activists see next page

OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 29

BEST OF VANCOUVER from previous page like the Portland Hotel Society’s Liz Evans and Mark Townsend, and the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users’ Bud Osborn, Ann Livingston, and Dean Wilson, recounting how they marched in the streets to demand that the government respond with the urgency that was required.

Lupick won the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature and has gone on to tour parts of the United States where harm-reduction advocates are being inspired by Vancouver’s experience.

BEST UNEXPECTED LOCAL BESTSELLER

Who would have guessed that a primer on 19th-century legislation could become one of B.C.’s most popular local books of the year? Educator Bob Joseph wrote 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality to help Canadians better understand what led to cultural genocide, the residential-school system, and other horrors inflicted on First Nations. Joseph, a member of the Gwawaenuk Nation, lays it out in crisp, clear prose in a small book that can fit in someone’s back pocket. According to the Read Local B.C. website, 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act has remained a B.C. bestseller for 24 weeks.

Perhaps this will encourage publishers to produce similar books on laws that kept South Asians and Chinese from moving to Canada, as well as other legislated acts of white supremacy in Canadian history. “The legacy of the residential school system continues to impact Indigenous people, families, and communities,” Joseph writes in his book. “On its doorstep we can lay the responsibility for the high poverty rates, the large number of Indigenous children in foster care, the disproportionate number of Incarcerated Indigenous people, and the

hundreds of missing and murdered is coming. And won’t it be wonderful Indigenous women.” knowing that those formerly homeless people will have spanking new recreaBEST JUSTIFICATION FOR MOVING tional and reading rooms in that part of the neighbourhood?

TO MARPOLE Vancouver’s 2019–22 capital plan includes plenty of goodies for what has BEST WAY TO PESTER THE traditionally been seen as the city’s FEDERAL GOVERNMENT only West Side neighbourhood with For the duration of 2018, Dan Small an East Side feel. If voters approve the has been on a one-man mission. The capital plan on October 20, the city cofounder of North America’s first will spend $23.8 million renewing supervised-injection facility, Insite, the library branch near Granville has obstinately pushed the federal Street and West 67th Avenue. As part government to convene a royal comof the upgrade, the city is adding mission for a detailed examination social housing and a 69-space child- of Canada’s opioid epidemic and the care centre. There’s also $15 million root causes that have contributed to a earmarked for an outdoor pool in sharp rise in overdose deaths. Small, Marpole. Plus, another $36.7 mil- a medical anthropologist and adjunct lion will be invested in the Marpole- professor at UBC, began his efforts Oakridge Community Centre in Oak with a letter to the Prime Minister’s Park. Consider it hush money for Office. From there, he was referred to those angry NIMBYs who didn’t want Canada’s health minister. Her office temporary modular housing for the suggested that Small direct his rehomeless in that part of town. Change quest to the governor general’s office,

BEST

so he did. If a royal commission is eventually established to investigate the causes of Canada’s opioid epidemic, it will likely focus on the years that former prime minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative party held power in Ottawa. “We need a royal commission that accountably investigates our nation’s values as they have impacted, and continue to impact, societal approaches to opioid use,” Small continued. “A royal commission would allow us to look backwards at the mistakes we’ve made.”

BEST REASON TO GO TO WAR WITH YOUR NEIGHBOUR

To children visiting a zoo, peacocks are big, colourful animals that elicit fascination. But to some residents of Surrey, B.C., the bird’s resplendent plumage isn’t so impressive. A number of peacocks have apparently roamed wild in Surrey for some time, creating noise and, in some residents’

LIFESTYLE

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1. Hastings Racecourse Hastings Park 2. Parq Vancouver 39 Smithe Street 3. River Rock Casino 8811 River Road, Richmond

LOCAL CASINO

CHILDCARE FACILITY

1. CEFA Early Learning 8685/8687 Yukon Street 2. YWCA Vancouver Various locations 3. Vancouver Society of Children’s Centres Various locations

PET SUPPLY STORE

1. Tisol Pet Nutrition & Supply Stores Various locations 2. Bosley’s by Pet Valu Various locations 3. Bones Pet Stores 181 Smithe Street

VETERINARY CLINIC

1. Parq Vancouver 39 Smithe Street 2. River Rock Casino 8811 River Road, Richmond 3. Hard Rock Casino Vancouver 2080 United Boulevard, Coquitlam

DOGGIE DAYCARE

1. The Urban Puppy Shop 1375 West 6th Avenue 2. DogPlay 8826 Osler Street 3. Rex’s Dog Hotel + Spa 760 Terminal Avenue

1. Cypress St. Animal Hospital 1889 Cornwall Avenue 2. Yaletown Pet Hospital 893 Expo Boulevard 3. Granville Island Veterinary Hospital 1635 West 4th Avenue

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1. Toys “R” Us Various locations 2. West Coast Kids Various locations 3. Dilly Dally Toys & Delights 1161 Commercial Drive

30 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

1. Spa Dog Organic Dog Spa 3471 Commercial Street 2. Pawsh Dog Spa + Boutique 80 Smithe Street 3. PetSmart Various locations

1. Dr. Tejpal Bhatia (Cypress St. Animal Hospital) 2. Dr. Helene Childs (West End Veterinary Clinic) 3. Dr. John Clark (Point Grey Veterinary Hospital)

yards, a good deal of excrement. In May 2018, one homeowner became so frustrated with the animals that he cut down a tree on his property where peacocks were roosting. That attracted the ire of some neighbours, who said they enjoyed having the sizable peafowl around. With more than 100 of the animals occupying the Surrey neighbourhood of Sullivan Heights, tensions simmered among residents. Then, in June, things came to a boil when a city bylaw officer claimed to have been assaulted after responding to a report of someone feeding the peacocks. “It’s a very intense situation on all sides,” Surrey’s public-safety manager told media.

“The community is definitely divided on this issue.

BEST NAME FOR A NEW POLITICAL PARTY

No, it’s not Yes Vancouver or Coalition Vancouver. This honour goes to Proudly Surrey, which is the brainchild of former B.C. Green party leader Stuart Parker and Fleetwood resident Dean McGee. It unabashedly borrowed British Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn’s slogan, “For the Many, not the Few”, to advance a vision of social justice that’s not been articulated before by politicians south of the Fraser River. Corbyn himself modified the final line of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s famous poem “The Masque of Anarchy”, which included this stanza: “Rise like lions after slumber/ In unvanquishable number!/Shake your chains to earth like dew/Which in sleep had fallen on you/Ye are many, they are few!” Proudly Surrey is urging residents to support its vision of becoming “Masters in our Own Domain”, which involves pulling out of TransLink and rejecting provincewide teacher bargaining in favour of negotiating its own contracts. Proudly Surrey also pledges to invest in arts “like no previous administration”, making this an economic engine of see page 32

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Consider it East Van’s sakura flourish. The cherry blossoms were roaring forth near the intersection of Graveley and Windermere streets in the middle of April, when this image appeared on Lido Petmalu’s @rain couver_604 Instagram account. Along with the gorgeous photo came the perfect punch line: “Cotton candy, anyone??” Not surprisingly, this pretty pink canopy generated the most likes of any Instagram image reposted on the Georgia Straight account this year by local photographers.

Too bad you’ll have to wait until next spring to see this sight again.

from page 30 the city. Imagine that. A political party that puts culture at the top of its agenda. In Surrey, no less.

BEST VANCOUVER VERSION OF JEREMY CORBYN

This honour goes to Derrick O’Keefe, who is running for city council with the Coalition of Progressive Electors. A tenants’-rights activist and ardent proponent of a rent freeze, O’Keefe shares some of Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn’s views about the Middle East. Think of O’Keefe as the city’s friendly leftist. He smiles more easily than Corbyn and has a quick wit. O’Keefe writes wellresearched articles and books. And

BEST

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DENTAL CLINIC

1. Aarm Dental Group Various locations 2. Inspire Dental Group Various locations 3. Sunrise Village Dental Centre 2538 East Hastings Street

DENTIST

Located between Vancouver and Whistler, along the Sea to Sky highway, the 10 minute gondola ride provides sweeping views of Howe Sound, the Coast Mountains and pristine forests. Once at the top, enjoy a thrilling suspension bridge, local cuisine in the Summit Eatery and year-round adventures.

1. Dr. Karen Nguyen (Sunrise Village Dental Centre) 2. Dr. Caroline McKillen (Aarm Dental Group on Cambie) 3. Dr. Ally Kassam (Inspire Dental Group Port Moody)

HEALTH SUPPLEMENT STORE

1. Finlandia Pharmacy & Natural Health Centre 1111 West Broadway 2. Body Energy Club Various locations 3. Victoria’s Health & Organic Bar Various locations

LASER EYE CENTRE

1. Pacific Laser Eye Centre Fifth floor–1401 West Broadway 2. London Eye Centre Various locations 3. LASIK MD Various locations

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32 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

unlike many politicians, he eagerly picks up a placard and participates in protests against militarism and imperialism. If he’s elected to council, the NDP government in Victoria will soon realize that it will be facing new demands for social justice from an elected official. He’s not one to simply ask for what the province is prepared to give. Instead, O’Keefe seeks what he thinks the province ought to provide. So do his fellow COPE candidates for council, Anne Roberts and Jean Swanson, who also have things in common with U.K. politician. But O’Keefe’s the only one of the trio who had lunch with Corbyn in Britain’s parliamentary cafeteria before he entered politics. see page 34

1. Seymour Health Centre 1530 West 7th Avenue 2. Cross Roads Clinics 350–507 West Broadway 3. Aquarius Medical Clinic 202–179 Davie Street

NATURAL PHARMACY

1. Finlandia Pharmacy & Natural Health Centre 1111 West Broadway 2. Pure Integrative Pharmacy Various locations 3. Sina Pharmacy & Organic Juice Bar 505 Smithe Street

OPTOMETRIST

1. Mount Pleasant Optometry Centre 104 East Broadway 2. Blink Optometry 130 Davie Street 3. Iris Various locations

PHYSIOTHERAPIST

1. Samantha Ling (North Vancouver Physiotherapy and Sports Clinic) 2. Nicole Fitzpatrick (Kerrisdale Physiotherapy) 3. InSync Physiotherapy

LOCAL CANNABIS DISPENSARY

1. Eden Various locations 2. Village Bloomery 206–1540 West 2nd Avenue 3. Lotusland Cannabis Club Various locations

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BEST OF VANCOUVER from page 32

Kanye!), but, increasingly, we’re in a world where apologizing is a lost art.

Why admit you’ve messed up when it’s easier to return fire on Twitter? A big hats off, then, to Red Truck Beer Company for responding to criticisms that its Red Truck Concert Series this year was something of a sausage party. When the lineup for the 2018 edition of the three-weekendsin-summer festival was announced, local artists—including Juno Award– winning Jill Barber—questioned why almost all the acts were men. (The headliners were Coleman Hell, Allen Stone, and Michael Ray, the undercard almost exclusively dude.) Rather than ignore the issue, Red Truck showed that it was actually listening.

It released a statement on Facebook that started with an apology for the lack of diversity, then included: “We have recognized our failure to be adequately sensitive and proactive with regards to the issues of diversity and inclusion in our programming.” This was followed by the announcing of support for Girls Rock Camp Vancouver and a pledge of “We promise to do better.” Difficult as it is these days to keep the faith, sometimes there are folks who seem genuinely determined to make the world a more equitable place.

CITY LIFE BEST NEIGHBOURHOOD TO ESCAPE THE CROWDS

Mellow and low-key, Dunbar sometimes seems like it’s frozen in time— unlike so many other parts of the city. Refreshingly devoid of chain stores, chain restaurants, and even chain movie theatres, this patch of the West Side is an excellent spot for those who just want to get away from it all. Grab a bag of popcorn at a single-screen cinema house. For lovers of cookbooks, the Dunbar library branch is an ideal destination.

Serious readers can head south on Dunbar Street to Lawrence Books, where B.C. titles from bygone eras are available at bargain prices in its narrow aisles. And while the new and improved local Stong’s Market has all the deli delights found in modern grocery stores, it hasn’t lost its quaint touch. For proof, check out the historical images on the wall in its coffee shop.

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For a year or so now, patients of Pier Health Resource Centre, a pharmacy in the Downtown Eastside, have made regular outings with clinic staff. Pier’s director, Bobby Milroy, says the trips to Metro Vancouver’s great outdoors are all about mental health—and not only the mental health of his patients, many of whom struggle with addiction. Milroy notes the trips have also proven to boost the spirits of his staff. “This gave me a chance to get out in nature and just relax,” he says. Milroy gives all credit for the program to one of

PLACE TO LIVE OUT A GAME OF THRONES FANTASY

After a few lessons at the Academie Duello, any Vancouverite would have a shot of stealing the Iron Throne.

As the city’s premier swordplay establishment, the Academie teaches armizare: a medieval Italian combat system designed to train knights for the battlefield and duelling ground. Its downtown studio specializes in instructing locals on the fundamentals of wielding a longsword, sidesword, and poleaxe, while its partner farm in Richmond offers everything from horseback combat to mounted archery and falconry. Fair warning—those metal swords are heavier than they look.

his patients, Alex Gibb. “One can easily become complacent or fall into a routine or negative rut,” Gibb tells the Straight. “So it’s good to change your environment....It triggers positive things within yourself.” Milroy adds that a few hours fishing on the Capilano River or a hike up the North Shore mountains is just what the doctor ordered.

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by having all washrooms operated by the park board installed with these Little things can make a big dif- contraptions. Shum has also sugference in people’s lives. Take the gested that all City of Vancouver case of parents who need to change washrooms should have the same. children’s diapers in public. Not all washrooms are equipped with BEST ADMIRABLY PROGRESSIVE diaper-changing tables. Vancouver APOLOGY park commissioner Erin Shum, who Blame Donald Trump and the is a new mom, wants to change that MAGA red-hat horde (looking at you,

The Vancouver Public Library central branch’s newly opened rooftop garden is an oasis amid the roar of the urban core. Grab a book from one of the lower f loors and head up to the tiled, leafy patio, high above the busy streets, with your lunch bag and thermos. At 7,400 square feet, designed by landscape architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, the expansive new deck—complete with tables and chairs—will make going back to work a little harder. see page 37

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KITCHEN CABINE TS WITH COUNTERTOPS | BATHROOM VANITIES | MARBLE T UBS | FREE STANDING WARDROBES | DINING TABL ES AND CHAIRS | COUCH AND CHAIRS | ACCESSORIES | APPLIANCES

DISPLAY FOR SALE - MERIT KITCHEN PRICE INCLUDES: SILESTONE + CEASARSTONE COUNTERTOPS (WORTH $4725) / ALL ACCESSORIES / HOOD + BLOWER / SINK BLANCO PERFORMA 31” (WORTH $950) / SOLID BRASS PULLS / LIGHTING: AS INSTALLED FAUCET + REFRIGERATOR + COOK TOP SOLD SEPARATELY DOOR STYLES AND CABINETRY SPECIFICATION: Tall and Island: HIGHLAND FLAT; STAINED SOLID CHERRY WOOD, FAWN Wall and Base: CAMBRIDGE FLAT; PAINTED SOLID MAPLE WOOD, BONE Carcase: PLYWOOD, MAPLE MELAMINE COMBINATION Drawers: MAPLE DOVETAILS, FULL EXTENSION Hinges: HETTICH, SOFT-CLOSE

DISPLAY FOR SALE - GAMADECOR PRICE INCLUDES: KRION SINK + COUNTERTOP / BUILT IN LIEBHERR REFRIGERATOR & PANASONIC MICROWAVE ALL ACCESSORIES MITERED EDGE FRAME FAUCET + OVEN SOLD SEPARATELY DOOR STYLE AND CABINETRY SPECIFICATION: Doors: 924 GLOSS CREAM WHITE LACQUER WITH MITERED EDGES Carcase: MIST GREY MELAMINE Toe Kick: STAINLESS STEEL Drawers: METAL LIGHT GREY, FULL EXTENSION Hinges: BLUM, SOFT-CLOSE *Minimum height to accommodate tall unit: 89” high.

Please see hand-out for other general dimensions

Regular Retail: $48,821.42 • NOW:

*Maximum height to accommodate tall unit: 99 ¼” high.

Please see hand-out for other general dimensions.

Regular Retail: $47,832.29 • NOW:

$20,000

SUPPLY ONLY: Delivery, Installation or any extra pieces will be additional

$20,000

SUPPLY ONLY: Delivery, Installation or any extra pieces will be additional.

DISPLAY FOR SALE - GAMADECOR PRICE INCLUDES: KRION COUNTERTOP (WORTH $2,550) / 2X 16” KRION INTEGRATED SINKS (WORTH $4,716 EACH) / ALL ACCESSORIES / SOLID BRASS PULLS / LIGHTING: AS INSTALLED FAUCET + REFRIGERATOR SOLD SEPARATELY DOOR STYLES AND CABINETRY SPECIFICATION: Tall Units: FLAT PANEL DOOR STYLE, WOOD VENEER Wall and Base: FLAT PANEL DOOR STYLE, WHITE MATTE LACQUER Carcase: PARTICLE-BOARD CONSTRUCTION Drawers: MAPLE DOVETAILS, FULL EXTENSION Hinges: BLUM, SOFT-CLOSE *Minimum height to accommodate tall unit: 90 5/8” high Please see hand-out for other general dimensions.

Regular Retail: $53,046 • NOW:

$20,000

SUPPLY ONLY: Delivery, Installation or any extra pieces will be additional

OPTION FOR SEPARATED SALE: CHERRY CABINETS: NOW $14,000 - price includes Silestone countertop, accessories, Blanco sink, pulls / MAPLE CABINETS: NOW $ 10,000 - price includes Ceasarstone countertop, accessories, Hood + Blower, pulls, lighting

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BEST OF VANCOUVER from page 34

creating a thrilling and terrifying experience once you’ve made it far enough to realize that turning back would take Have you ever had to sit on a bus on a as much effort as just crossing the damn steamingly humid day that’s full of men thing. Wanna keep your adrenaline up? who haven’t showered in a week, aren’t Make a pit stop at the Sea to Sky Gonwearing deodorant, and have just exer- dola—and maybe Whistler Bungee—on cised? Think you haven’t? Well, if you’ve your drive back to Vancouver. been in this city for any rainless stretch that has spanned more than a few days, BEST NEW DANCE SPACE you might as well have. Think of the rain Left of Main as the shower that keeps the city not only 211 Keefer Street clean and green but also smellable.

What happens when a small indie dance company takes on the dream BEST PLACE FOR VANCOUVERITES of renovating a 1,500-square-foot, 100-year-old abandoned dim-sum TO STARE DEATH IN THE FACE B.C. is pretty spoiled when it comes to restaurant in Chinatown? A muchsuspension bridges, but the new Cloud- needed affordable studio opens up raker Skybridge in Whistler may be the not just for local rehearsals, but for scariest one to cross. The long, swing- inovative, intimate performances. ing structure stretches 130 metres from Plastic orchid factory staged its 10thWhistler Peak to the West Ridge, offer- anniversary show, i miss doing nothing heart-pounding views of Whistler ing, here in the summer, a piece that Bowl below. You can definitely feel that revelled in its setting, with the Chinasucker moving once the wind picks up, town street noise and the natural play BEST REASON TO APPRECIATE THE RAIN

of sunlight through the windows.

November 13 to 24, dumb instrument dance stages Public & Private, a work accompanied by thunderous live taiko drumming. At the same time, Left of Main studio is now headquarters and office space for not only plastic orchid factory but MACHiNENOiSY and Tara Cheyenne Performance. Funded by everything from a city cultural-infrastructure grant to Canadian Heritage culturalspaces funding, the four-year project proves that artists really can create their own spaces and come up with affordable solutions—and, unthinkably, that dancers can also be developers.

also advised Canada’s most LGBT– friendly Liberal MP, Hedy Fry, as she’s advanced many measures to bring about greater equality, regardless of a person’s sexual orientation.

But what many people don’t know is that Nixey also quietly promotes important health initiatives benefiting the LGBT community by contacting media outlets to keep these issues in the public eye. This includes expanded access to pre-exposure prophylaxis and post-exposure prophylaxis (known as PrEP and PEP), which reduce transmission of HIV. He also tried to amplify the voices of young folks at YouthCO to have their views heard on sex education. Vancouver is a world leader in measures to make a city a welcomLGBT COMMUNITY’S BEST ing, healthy, and safe place for LGBT BEHIND-THE-SCENES PUBLICIST As the former cochair of Vision people, whether in the schools, at Vancouver, Paul Nixey helped elect park-board facilities, or in various Canada’s most LGBT–friendly may- medical centres. Nixey is one of the or, Gregor Robertson. Nixey has reasons why.

BEST NAME CHANGE OF A CIVIC SITE/ASSET

Strathcona’s Keefer Street Pedestrian Overpass—which connects Raymur Avenue to Keefer over the railway tracks—is being renamed the Militant Mothers of Raymur Overpass as part of a recent city initiative to honour contributions by Vancouver citizens. In January 1971, mothers who had demanded the railroad cease operations during the hours their children would be crossing the tracks to get to and from the school nearest to Stamps Place Housing—a social-housing complex that opened in 1968—took matters into their own hands when the city and school board stalled and the railroad reneged on its promise to do so. Twenty-five of them risked their own safety (and some were arrested) by sitting upon and then camping on the tracks until the various parties agreed to build an see next page

OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 37

BEST OF VANCOUVER BEST

from previous page overpass, which was completed later that year.

STYLE

PLACE TO BUY JEANS

1. Dutil 303 West Cordova Street 2. Mavi Various locations 3. Dish & Duer 118 West Hastings Street

SHOE STORE (INDEPENDENT)

1. John Fluevog Shoes Various locations 2. gravitypope 2205 West 4th Avenue 3. The Right Shoe 1601 West 4th Avenue

CUSTOM JEWELLERY STORE 1. Cavalier 217 West Hastings Street 2. Era Design 1795 Venables Street 3. Ragnar Jewellers 8038 Granville Street

WOMEN’S CLOTHING STORE (INDEPENDENT)

LOCAL DESIGNER CLOTHING STORE

1. The Latest Scoop Various locations 2. Gatley 1136 Commercial Drive 3. 8th & Main Various locations

1. Devil May Wear Various locations 2. Gatley 1136 Commercial Drive 3. Oak + Fort, Various locations

MEN’S CLOTHING STORE (INDEPENDENT)

1. Bruce Eyewear 219 Abbott Street 2. Durant Sessions 315 West Cordova Street 3. Ollie Quinn, Various locations

1. Boys’Co Various locations 2. 8th & Main Various locations 3. Emil 100–1062 Homer Street

SHOPPING CENTRE

1. Pacific Cenre 2. Park Royal 3. Metrotown

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1. Adrenaline Various locations 2. Gastown Tattoo Parlour 105 West Cordova Street 3. Liquid Amber Tattoo & Art Collective 62 Powell Street

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38 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

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If you don’t want to spend your golden years in the B.C. Penitentiary, your best shot at inhaling the scent Despite what your parents and em- of rotting f lesh comes from a trip to ployer have been repeatedly telling the Bloedel Conservatory. This year, you, complaining on the Internet Uncle Fester—the greenhouse’s Tiisn’t a complete waste of time and, tan arum (or “corpse f lower” to the in fact, does get shit done—if said gruesome)—surprised everyone by shit involves getting B.C. native and blooming four years early, releasing bawdy box-office star Seth Rogen a stench that drew hundreds to the onto the airwaves of our regional doors of the dome. There’s no actransit authority, that is. Take it counting for curiosity. from the Vancouverites who took to social media in May to propose Ro- BEST PLACE TO WATCH REAL-LIFE gen as the voice of TransLink after a FROGGER Visa-backed campaign with Morgan Before you start screeching about Freeman was axed. The suggestions global warming, peak oil, and the seemed only half-serious at first, but, indisputable fact that Gregor Robtwo months later, Rogen was advis- ertson looks kinda hot in spandex ing passengers to keep their feet off see next page

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BEST OF VANCOUVER riding shorts, rest assured we’re on your side. As long as it’s not raining like monsoon season in Mumbai, we bike to work. That has given us valuable perspective on why people hate cyclists in this city. Criticize motorists all you want, but you don’t see four out of five of them running stop signs, roaring through red lights, and ripping through occupied crosswalks.

The vast majority of cyclists, on the other hand, seem to think the rules of the road don’t apply to them. It’s on the False Creek seawall in front of Science World where things are at their worst. The city has made a noble effort to get cyclists to pay attention to the new designated crosswalks including setting up yield signs and installing barriers. But despite said crosswalk being perpetually busy with young families, tourists, and assorted others, eight out of 10 twowheeled idiots roar right through it without even slowing down. That forces those on two legs instead of two wheels to weave their way through the traffic like they’re crossing the street in Saigon. Dear cyclists of Vancouver: if you really want to make the world a better place, start by looking at yourself.

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With Jimmy Fallon and chatted about it. Which recorded announcement shocked Rogen? Asking riders not to clip their toenails. In the wise words of Jimmy Fallon’s Sara: “Ew!” BEST SHINE OF RAINBOWS

Rainbow crosswalks and Pride celebrations serve numerous purposes.

They offer visibility for LGBT people who may otherwise not be represented; they help to reinforce the idea that LGBT people are everywhere, not just in specific areas; and they’re uplifting in so many ways. That’s why it’s great to see that Burnaby held its first Pride festivities, and White Rock, Coquitlam, and Surrey joined the rainbow-crosswalk party. As for vandalism and defacement of crosswalks: well, that just reinforces why they need to be there in the first place.

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BEST YEAR TO BE QUEER

When it comes to out LGBT history in this city, it’s only a few decades old.

But with numerous LGBT organizations celebrating milestone anniversaries, it’s an encouraging indication of how far things have progressed.

Among those celebrating this year were Out on Screen, Qmunity, AIDS Vancouver, Little Sister’s Book and Art Emporium, Pride in Art Society, and the Vancouver Pride Society, just to name a few. So the City of Vancouver officially declared 2018 as the Year of the Queer. Cheers to all the hard work by local individuals, organizations, and businesses, and here’s to many more years to come.

Commercial Drive’s Dude Chilling Park—site of multiple sign thefts and Jimmy Fallon jokes—saw a rival sign installed by a group of dedicated pranksters. Riffing on the art project turned bona fide location, organizers for Vancouver’s annual Dyke March installed a sign for Dyke Chilling Park in the same area. Although it has BEST REASON FOR VANCOUVER’S since been removed, a petition is still DUDES TO DITCH THE CARGOS circulating online for its permanent AND SPORTSWEAR placement—a move that organizers Vancouver may not exactly be known say will honour the LGBT community for its trendsetting styles, but a in Mount Pleasant. couple of openings in Yaletown are giving the city’s guys one less excuse to reach for the sweat-wicking BEST CALLING-OUT OF LOCAL T-shirts and cargo shorts. Exhibit TRANSIT RIDERS’ GROSSEST A: Emile Clothing Co., a men’sHABITS After Vancouver-bred Hollywood star clothing boutique that stocks qualSeth Rogen did a guest spot voicing ity European labels and tailored yet announcements on TransLink ser- casual and affordable pieces like vices, he went on the Tonight Show see next page

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SURREAL SETTING FOR ART

Feeling part David Lynch, part David Cronenberg, a new exhibit placed almost casually in 18 lived-in rooms at the Patricia Hotel (403 East Hastings Street) is unforgettable as much for its setting as for the fantastical sculptures that bring to mind The Island of Dr. Moreau. Until December 15, you can see Australian artist Patricia Piccinini’s creepily lifelike animal-human hybrids set up with their suitcases and other objects as if they’ve just moved in there from… the future? While you contemplate the scarier propositions of genetic science, you can also gain a sneak peek into a century-old hotel that Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton once called home, that once housed a boxing ring in its basement, and that, early in the previous century, offered rooms for a buck a night. As much as there is to see at Curious Imaginings, this hotel has seen more.

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BIKE-ROUTE DIVERSION

It is generally accepted—unless your name happens to be Wai Young— that Vancouver is a great city for those who have embraced cycling.

Thanks to designated bike lanes, you don’t have to worry about being doored on Dunsmuir or forced off the road on Richards. But cycling isn’t without its frustrating moments, a big one being the train tracks that cut across Union Street right by La Casa Gelato. Hands up if you’ve found yourself sitting on your robin’s-egg–blue fixie for an eternity while a train rolls along in front of you, wondering when the end is finally going to appear. Did you know that there’s another way across the tracks and it doesn’t involve riding to Hastings or 1st Avenue? The next time the Adanac bike route is blocked by a train, simply head a block north to the Keefer Street Pedestrian Overpass, which seems to be a secret to 99 out of 100 cyclists. A chain-link–enclosed ramp that connects Raymur Avenue and Keefer not only takes you up and over the tracks, but also gives you a pretty great view of the mile-long train you’ve just cleverly managed to avoid. Or you can stand with the muttering, inconvenienced, and exasperated masses on Union, wondering why the hell you haven’t invested in an Evel Knievel XR-750 Harley Davidson sky cycle. from previous page merino-wool crewnecks and cropped trousers. And then there’s Surmesur, a made-to-measure menswear store from Montreal that offers custom shirts and suits. Add the Indochino f lagship into the mix, and it’s fair to say that Yaletown has become the gentlemen’s fashion destination.

BEST PLACE TO SHOP JAPANESE HANDMADE GOODS OUTSIDE OF JAPAN

Vancouver’s fascination with beautiful, handcrafted Japanese objects shows no signs of dissipating with the launch of Out & About, a boutique in Gastown that offers a wonderfully curated selection of ceramics, stationery, candles, and more—the majority of them designed and produced in the Land of the Rising Sun. Alongside the minimalist drip kettles, gorgeous glass jewellery, and recycledcotton socks, you’ll also find stacks of stunning design books and coffeetable tomes, making Out & About one of those one-stop, has-a-little-bit-ofeverything shops in which—despite its modest size—you can expect to spend hours.

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Having a bad day? Drive down Seymour Street to check out the Penthouse Night Club marquee signage.

Displaying topical one-liners, including “Poles more reliable than CNN predictions,” “Rare Pokémon inside,” and, our personal favourite, “Less fake news, more fake boobs,” the sign boasts better jokes than some local standups.

into instant gratification, there’s no better place to find a freshly assembled ride than on Union Street a block west of Main, sometimes under the viaduct and sometimes at the Murrin Substation. Sure, the hours are a bit spotty—there were times this past summer (usually after a police visit) when the on-site technicians would disappear for days. But when things are busy, they are super busy. Work typically starts around 9 a.m., when a ragtag crew starts breaking down what, weirdly looks like perfectly good bikes into random parts. Those parts are then assembled, mix-andmatch-style, into new bikes over the course of the day—unbelievably, in broad daylight. The new rides are quickly spray-painted right before they are ready to roll. That’s either because everyone loves a shiny new bike or so the poor guy who just had his Gestalt X10 boosted from his Yaletown luxury condo bike lockers can’t accurately identify the Frankenstein atrocity of which his prized purchase has just become part. Look for the blue tarps on the side of the street— especially if your bike has just been heisted. And remember to bring cash, because sometimes the last thing you want to do is give a stranger your credit-card number.

BEST PLACE TO GET TINNITUS

Ever wondered why the downtown core is plagued by ear-busting horns at noon every day? Spoiler: it’s not the cruise ships. The Heritage Horns, as they are known, were designed in 1967 to play the first four notes of the Canadian national anthem every day at 12 p.m. Originally placed on the roof of the B.C. Hydro Building BEST POP-UP BIKE STORE Taking the plunge on a custom-made at Burrard and Nelson streets, they bike at a store usually means a waiting were moved in the 1990s. Canada period of a week or more. For those see next page

BEST OF VANCOUVER Place Corporation fixed them up and attached them to the roof of the Pan Pacific Hotel, where they’ve been sounding every day since 1994. The horns are so noisy that the blast travels through downtown and beyond the North Shore—which, to be honest, is probably about as loud as the subwoofer at the back of Celebrities.

BEST LOCATION FROM WHICH TO SPY ON AC/DC

In early August, Vancouver was abuzz with the rumour that AC/DC was back in town, recording once again at the Bryan Adams–owned Warehouse Studio in Gastown, where the legendary hard-rock band made its past three albums. What made the rumour particularly juicy was the possibility that both longtime AC/DC singer Brian Johnson and drummer Phil Rudd—who’d both been famously absent during the band’s last tour—were back in the lineup. (Johnson, suffering from hearing problems, had been replaced

by Axl Rose, while Rudd had lost his spot behind the drum kit after running afoul of the law back in Australia.) The gossip caught fire when paparazzi-style photos of the ex-members, taken by local shutterbug Glenn Slavens, were published in the Georgia Straight. Lucky for Slavens, his friend Crystal Lambert has an apartment with a bird’seye view of the Warehouse’s outside deck, which is where the AC/DC members were spotted hanging out, smoking cigarettes, and sipping something from white coffee mugs. Rumours of an unexpected new AC/DC album in the works drew headlines worldwide. “Let There Be Rock”, indeed.

BEST REASON TO DONATE CLOTHES TO CHARITY

If the idea of helping to save the Earth is too big for you to handle, cutting down on waste is a good place to start. Being mindful about wantonly throwing away clothes is a good example. According to a Metro Vancouver staff report, about 20,000 tons of unwanted clothes end up in dumps in the region each year.

BEST EXAMPLE OF CLASS SEGREGATION

It can be argued that “poor doors” are the perfect example of the divide between the haves and the have-nots.

As the term denotes, poor doors are entrances in residential buildings used by people of humbler means. In Vancouver developments, it is common to have separate entrances for social-housing residents and condo owners. City council doesn’t seem to mind at all. For example, on July 31

BEST

this year, council approved a 30-storey high-rise project at the southeast corner of Burnaby and Thurlow streets. Condo residents will come in through the lobby on Burnaby Street, and people in social housing will enter through another passage on Thurlow Street. Developer plans have even called for children’s play areas to be segregated.

BEST PLACE TO GO INSIDE THE PARQ CASINO IF YOU DON’T GAMBLE

Parq Vancouver, the glitzy new hotel resort–casino–dining destination hybrid, opened one year ago.

Most people visit the entertainment complex in hopes of winning some money; others check in because they are tourists who can afford Vancouver’s expensive lodging rates. But for those who don’t gamble and aren’t interested in upscale comfort food, there’s a charming little spot you can check out. Tucked away in D/6 Bar and Lounge on the sixth f loor is a large bookshelf. If you push hard enough, it swings open and leads you into a speakeasy. The hidden space is usually a venue for private bookings, but when it’s not taken, it can be an intriguing place in which to hang out.

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B.C. MOUNTAIN FOR SKIING

1. Whistler Blackcomb 2. Big White 3. Cypress Mountain

BOUTIQUE HOTEL IN VANCOUVER

1. Loden Hotel 1177 Melville Street 2. Opus Hotel 322 Davie Street 3. Wedgewood Hotel & Spa 845 Hornby Street

HOTEL GROUP IN VANCOUVER

1. Fairmont Various locations 2. Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre 1088 Burrard Street 3. Hyatt Regency 655 Burrard Street

LOCAL MOUNTAIN FOR SKIING

1. Cypress Mountain 2. Grouse Mountain 3. Mount Seymour

property after the East Vancouver site at Broadway and Commercial Drive was put up for sale in January. Thanks to more than 190 community members, a grant from the City of Vancouver, a mortgage from Vancity Credit Union, and celebrity support from the likes of Ryan Reynolds, Seth Rogen, and Kevin Smith, the deal was completed earlier this month. And how did they celebrate?

By holding free screenings of The Big Lebowski, of course.

BEST REASON TO BEAT UP VANCOUVER

The first Deadpool spent $40 million on filming in B.C. Deadpool 2 then spent more than $100 million on production here. Besides a ginormous thank-you to Vancouver’s hometown star Ryan Reynolds, need we say anything else? see next page

BEST LOW-RISE TOWER OF BABEL

A strata dispute shows that there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of building harmony in multicultural settings. In October this year, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal is scheduled to hear a complaint by a number of current and former owners at a Richmond townhouse complex about the language used to conduct strata-council meetings. The meetings, apparently, are not held in English because it might sound foreign to some people of Chinese heritage. Rather, according to the complaint, strata business is conducted in Mandarin, which some speakers of English and other languages cannot understand.

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BEST CULTURAL NAVIGATOR

Who can seamlessly interact with people from a multitude of countries while avoiding the type of faux pas that would trip up the best of us?

There are a few candidates, including the mayor’s director of community relations, Naveen Girn, and Vision Vancouver councillor Raymond Louie. But this year, our choice for the city’s best cultural navigator is Winnie Cheung, a former executive director of international services at UBC and a long-time champion of intercultural understanding. The Hong Kong–born Cheung’s mission in recent years has been to bring about a Museum of Migration so that stories

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drummer John Bonham, most likely his son, Jason—even though such an undertaking would certainly boost his bank account by several million dollars. But much to the delight of diehard Zep fans everywhere, Plant is not averse to rekindling the spirit of the band while on-stage with his current group, the Sensational Space Shifters. During their thrilling jazz-fest show at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre last June, Plant peppered ENTERTAINMENT the set with half a dozen tunes from his old band’s heyday, and the ZepBEST WAY TO GET THE LED OUT Other than that one time back in 2007 starved crowd responded with a whole when he took part in a Led Zeppelin lotta love. reunion as a tribute to legendary record exec Ahmet Ertegun, Robert BEST REASON NOT TO BLAME IT Plant has always argued against the ON THE RIO idea of “getting the band back togeth- It took seven months of hard-core er”. The singer has scoffed at the idea fundraising efforts, but the operof touring with surviving bandmates ators of the Rio Theatre managed Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones— to raise the necessary mountain of and a replacement for late Zeppelin dough to purchase the $7.9-million and heirlooms of immigration across the Pacific Ocean can be shared with Canadians and tourists alike. Cheung, executive director of the Pacific Canada Heritage Centre–Museum of Migration Society, doesn’t seek the limelight. She just gets things done.

Pay attention to this initiative. We’re likely to hear a great deal more about it in the years to come.

LOCAL TOURIST ATTRACTION

1. Granville Island 2. Vancouver Aquarium 3. Science World

OUT OF TOWN SPA GETAWAY IN B.C.

1. Scandanave Spa Whistler 8010 Mons Road, Whistler 2. Sparkling Hill Resort 888 Sparkling Place, Vernon 3. Kingfisher Oceanside Resort & Spa 4330 Island Highway, South Royston

TOURIST ATTRACTION OUTSIDE VANCOUVER CITY LIMITS

1. Sea to Sky Gondola 2. Grouse Mountain 3. Capilano Suspension Bridge

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WEEKEND GETAWAY

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WINTER DESTINATION

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The future of the Hollywood Theatre has been unclear since the art-deco Kitsilano venue, which opened in 1935, closed in 2011. On July 24, the City of Vancouver approved plans to redevelop the site as an arts centre.

Thanks to a campaign by the Hollywood Cinema Network, comprised of local film-industry organizations and professionals, documentary screen- FOOD & DRINK ings will be featured at the venue in addition to live music and arts per- BEST SLICE OF MOROCCO IN formances. Happily, the show must VANCOUVER go on.

If you go to Paris, Moroccan culture is on display all over the place. Moroccan mint tea with sugar is poured BEST LOCAL WAY TO RELIVE from on high by servers in many THE VIBE OF A LONG-GONE neighbourhoods. A bright traditionGUITAR HERO The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has al dress with hood and long sleeves, been slagged many times for refus- called a djellaba, isn’t hard to find in ing to induct certain artists that stores catering to Moroccan clientele. have had a profound effect on music And the sounds of North African lovers. For some bizarre reason, the classical music waft through many much-ballyhooed institution in restaurants. But it was only this year Cleveland has continued to over- that Vancouverites could experience a look such legendary guitar heroes as true taste of Marrakesh in an upscale Link Wray, Johnny Winter, and Rory eatery catering to those with a love of Gallagher. They’ve all passed away, tagines served piping hot under the unfortunately, but in the case of Gal- cone-shaped Moroccan earthenware lagher, at least, there’s still a way to of the same name. Mimo Bucko’s experience what he was all about Moltaqa (51 West Hastings Street) is in a live setting. The Irish Strat- unlike anything else in the city’s dinslinger’s former rhythm section of ing scene. And, yes, his servers will bassist Gerry McAvoy and drum- pour sweetened Moroccan tea from mer Ted McKenna has hooked up on high without splashing a drop, just with guitar wizard Davy Knowles to like they do in Paris. form a group called Band of Friends that performs Gallagher’s rowdy BEST PLACE TO SEE PICASSO old tunes for the faithful. Lucky for The 75-seat Bodega on Main is like Vancouver’s most devoted Gallagher taking a trip to Spain. The walls are fanatics, the trio’s itinerary includes festooned with photos celebrating a stop at the Fox Cabaret on Decem- life in the country that Spaniards ber 14. Luckily, as well, that’s a Fri- sometimes refer to as La Piel de day night.

Toro. But what stands out for anyone glancing up at the south wall are the eyes of Picasso—intense and filled BEST NEW THEATRE VENUE with intelligence. He’s still the most Upstairs at the Penthouse famous person from Málaga. Oh, Night Club and if you want to see some of his art, 1019 Seymour Street It has housed a steak club, a boxing head off to Oakridge Centre’s West ring, punk-rock concerts, and, of Gallery, where it’s on display alongcourse, strippers; now the storied side the work of Salvador Dalí until Penthouse Night Club is about to October 14. bring you plays by the likes of Samuel Beckett and John Patrick Shanley. BEST REASON FOR CHOCOLATE Seven Tyrants has launched a full LOVERS TO JUMP FOR JOY season in a new 45-seat black-box Wild Sweets theatre in the storied club’s upstairs. 2145–12191 Hammersmith Way, How lofty has the loft become? There Richmond will even be a new Shakespeare adap- Local chocolate makers Dominique tation by Camyar Chai debuting and Cindy Duby are among the best there next spring. Under the um- chocolate makers in the world. Most brella name of Tyrants Studios, the chocolate shops are “melters”, meanSeven Tyrants Theatre joins the ad- ing they purchase their key ingredijacent lounge stage, which has been ent from global industrial manufachosting comedy nights and concerts turers. The Dubys, pioneers in the since May. molecular-gastronomy movement, call their process “bean to bar”: they make their own chocolate right onBEST WAY TO GET YOUR HORROR site, using cocoa beans they source ON THIS HALLOWEEN If you’re a fan of horror films—es- from direct-trade farms all over the pecially the stylish, old-school ones world, including Costa Rica, Ecuafrom the 1970s—then the Cinema- dor, and Madagascar. In fact, Wild theque is the place to be during the Sweets is the only science-based last week of October. The downtown bean-to-bar chocolate maker in CanVancouver movie house is presenting ada. The company collaborates with the series “Don’t Lose Your Head!”, UBC in research into the intensive which features screenings of three of procedure. You can visit their facItalian fearmonger Dario Argento’s tory to watch or even book a session finest works. Between October 26 and see next page

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1. Greenpeace Canada 2. David Suzuki Foundation 3. Sierra Club B.C. 1. Vancity 2. TransLink 3. Telus

42 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

LOCAL STARTUP

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31, local fright-flick fanatics can check out restorations of Argento’s The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (1970), Deep Red (1975), and Suspiria (1977). On Halloween night, the screening of Suspiria will include a costume party, cash bar, and a specially choreographed, Goblin-scored ballet by Dancinema. As Count Floyd would say “That’s scary stuff, kids!”

1. UBC 2. Langara 3. BCIT 1. BCIT 2. UBC 3. SFU

BEST OF VANCOUVER at its lab for a better understanding of where chocolate comes from and what goes into creating the world’s most popular treat.

Now does anyone know where one can go to buy a stainless-steel straw?

BEST THING TO EAT IF YOU’RE NOT ON A GLUTEN-FREE DIET

No disrespect to those who have to (or choose to) maintain a gluten-free For the first time, the 2018 fair fea- diet, but this is what you’re missing tured a Granny Smith apple smoth- out on: Lee’s Donuts. Specifically, the BEST SIGN THAT VANCOUVER ered in thick caramel sauce then honey-dip doughnut from the venerHAS ITS EATING-AND-DRINKING dipped in whole, dried crickets. The able Granville Island Market vendor.

PRIORITIES IN ORDER When the City of Vancouver an- Sweet Mind Candy Co. crew got the It’s like a slice of heaven when you nounced earlier this year that a plas- idea after seeing the overwhelmingly get your hands on one of these freshly tic-straw ban would go into effect in positive response to the preceding made treats, identified by its warm 2019, many environmentally minded season’s cricket burger at Gourmet and flakey exterior, with a cloudlike locals rejoiced. But then came the Burger. The crunchy candy apples will interior. They’re so sweet and delicious, you can’t really blame non–gluquestions: what will this mean for be back next year. ten-free folks for raving about these people with disabilities who rely on deep-fried goodies. such tools to eat and drink? And how BEST NEW VEGETARIAN TREAT will we consume our bubble tea—the INSPIRED BY THE PNE beloved Taiwanese beverage that, Veggie corn dog MOST WELCOME REBOOT OF A thanks to the inclusion of tasty top- Colony Northwoods (2100 Dollarton WEST END HANGOUT pings like tapioca balls, grass jelly, Highway, North Vancouver) With all the neighbourhood-favourand pudding, often requires the use Why should carnivores get all the deep- ite eateries shutting down due to reof an oversized straw? The city has fried fun? The newly opened Colony development, it’s always heartening yet to offer answers to either inquiry, Northwoods bar has launched a veggie to hear that an establishment is findthough it’s nice to see that Vancou- corn dog, battered in-house and served ing ways to reinvent itself and converites have their priorities in order. with ketchup and mustard. tinue on, even if in slightly different BEST NEW PNE FOOD

forms. One of the most encouraging was in the West End when the uncertain future of Hamburger Mary’s Diner finally found footing and it was reborn as Mary’s on Davie. It revitalized the Mary ol’ social heart of the Davie Village, aside the Jim Deva Plaza and the rainbow crosswalks.

With new ownership, a revamped menu of burgers and milkshakes, and fresh pink-and-turquoise décor, the party is back in full swing to keep the LGBT community spirit going strong. Because, after all, isn’t everyone a little Mary?

BEST REMINDER THAT METRO VANCOUVER HAS SOME OF THE WORLD’S BEST CHINESE FOOD

Repeatedly, international critics and diners have praised Metro Vancouver for the quality and diversity of our Chinese culinary establishments.

The latest example came on June 4 when the New York Times ran an

article by writer Taras Grescoe entitled “The Best Asian Food in North America? Try British Columbia”.

Grescoe mostly explored the world of Chinese cuisine on offer, primarily focused on Richmond. Now excuse us as we run out to grab a bite of har gow and siu mai.

BEST FILIPINO DINING TREND THAT’S CATCHING ON WITH THE MAINSTREAM

Nobody needs serving dishes, cutlery, or plates when they go to a boodle fight. Legend has it that Philippine soldiers began the practice of dining communally with all the food spread on a layer of banana leaves.

When they said “dig in” they meant it literally—with their hands. Now, boodle fights are a staple in several Lower Mainland restaurants and they’re becoming increasingly popular with people who don’t trace their see next page

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We are truly grateful for your continued support over the last 10 years.

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NEW FACE IN THE LEGISLATURE

There was a new voice in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia last March. A very new voice, in fact. One that only managed a few squeaks and gibberish but which was still heard. It belonged to Dev Juno Chandra Herbert, who was only 13 months old when he took a seat in the legislature. Baby Dev was in Victoria with his father, Spencer Chandra Herbert, who is the NDP MLA representing Vancouver–West End. Chandra Herbert brought his son to work to illustrate a change in chamber rules that now allows MLAs to sit with children two years old and younger. “MLAs voted to change the rules to make the Legislature more friendly for MLAs with babies today,” Chandra Herbert wrote on Facebook alongside a photo of Dev looking slightly confused by the whole affair. “Infants under two in the care of their parent are now welcome on the floor and committee rooms of the legislature.”

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from previous page roots back to the East Asian island archipelago. This month, any politician looking for votes from Filipino Canadians might want to consider being photographed as they enjoy a boodle fight. It would send a signal that they value this community’s support.

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BEST PLACE TO GET OKTOBERFEST FOOD AT CHRISTMAS WITHOUT FLYING TO GERMANY

The Vancouver Christmas Market entices large crowds year after year with its German fare. Past gourmet offerings at this market include bratwurst (German sausages), schnitzels (coated and fried meat), and schweinshaxe (roasted pork shank). Why fly to Europe when you can find good German eats right here in Vancouver?

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So big it has its own webpage, Cannibal Café’s Beast Burger has been clogging arteries for more than a year. Featuring eight six-ounce patties, eight double cheddar slices, eight double-bacon strips, lettuce, tomato, onion, a bun, and two cheeky pickles, the meal has left grown men sweating and weeping.

Those who manage to eat the whole thing in a half-hour or less win a Tshirt, get their photo on the wall of fame, and—best of all—get the burger for free. Challenge accepted.

BEST BARGAIN COCKTAILS

Sal y Limon 5–701 Kingsway Street

The tacos, burritos, and huaraches are the main attractions at Sal y Limon on Kingsway, with folks lined up out the door for the most reasonably priced Mexico-style street food in town. But the perpetually packed East Vancouver eatery is also heaven for Barfly fans who see food’s primary function as an alcohol sponge.

You know how most eateries charge more for their cocktails than their main courses? Not at Sal y Limon, where a stupidly delicious rumchata (think horchata with a 40-proof pirate’s-delight kick) is a measly $7.

Same for the tangy tequila-spiked lime margaritas. Suck back two or three and you’ll leave Sal y Limon feeling like you’ve just stumbled out of a Tijuana cantina, an added bonus being that you should have enough money to head right back inside for another beef-tongue torta or slowroasted pork huarache. Not to mention one more rumchata for the road.

BEST RESTAURANT MAKEOVER

Once a favourite West Broadway hangout for UBC students, the old Calhoun’s has undergone a stunning transformation. The newest, East is East (3035 West Broadway), recreates the dhabas that dotted the Silk Road extending from Istanbul to China. Vancouver’s version is like entering a candlelit Indian or Afghan haveli, oozing culinary scents from BEST LOCAL BIZ BRINGING the region in a resplendent room.

ALTERNATIVE PROTEIN TO With the handmade rugs on the wall, THE MASSES large wooden tables, Chai lounge, Coast Protein (New Westminster) Coast Protein is on a mission to make and stage for musicians, sometimes it eating insects normal: it’s Canada’s seems that the only thing that’s misonly cricket-bar company. Sourcing sing is Stevie Nicks. She’d fit right the critters from Ontario’s Entomo into this place.

Farms, it makes the energy bars in a variety of flavours, including peanut BEST MISLEADING ADVERTISING butter, cranberry, chocolate chip, and Half Baked Cookie Company trail mix. Why crickets? They’re a sus- 1211 Nanaimo Street tainable source of protein and nutrition. As any self-respecting East Van resident will tell you, a little humbleness goes a long way when looking BEST SUSHI BAR THAT’S NOT INSIDE A JAPANESE RESTAURANT to fit into the community. Still, Half Granville Island’s long-time seafood Baked Cookie Company on Nanaimo restaurant, the Sandbar, is best known seems determined to sell itself short. for its fresh-catch menu and rooftop Forget a f lashy neon sign or awning patio with a view. It serves up much- painted by the second coming of loved West Coast fare, but it’s also home Michelangelo—the shop’s main callto a traditional sushi bar that’s situated ing card is a sidewalk board billing right in the middle of the dining room. the place as a “Cookie Company”.

Hoshi’s Sushi is led by master sushi chef And then there’s the name, with Tsutomu Hoshi, who skillfully makes “Half Baked” not exactly a ringing eneverything from nigiri to sashimi with dorsement for anything not named perfect rice and local and imported fish. Snoop Dogg. But good God, the If you are lucky enough to get a seat at his sublime selection inside. There are, bar, you might get to strike up a conver- indeed, cookies on offer, but skip to sation with the humble chef. see next page

BEST OF VANCOUVER the fresh-from-the-oven pies. Forget boring old cherry or classic apple; instead, consider a rotating selection that includes the likes of Chocolate Haupie (a Hawaii-inspired blend of dark- and milk-chocolate pudding and toasted coconut) and Banoffee (fresh bananas with dulce de leche caramel and vanilla pastry cream, topped with whipped espresso cream and chocolate). Best in show is the Island Time, where tangy passion fruit and coconut custard transport you to a Gilligan’s Island–like tropical heaven. At the risk of bragging, East Van is the greatest place in the world, and Half Baked is one of the reasons.

VANCOUVER MARITIME MUSEUM VOTED

protest. Suggested sign ideas: “Keep the steam-cleaning to carpets,” “Invest in research, not $15,000 dildos,” and “Let’s consciously uncouple with this bullshit.”

- RUNNER UP IN THE CATEGORY FOR BEST LOCAL MUSEUM BY THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT READERS

BEST WEEKEND ACTIVITY YOU HAVEN’T DONE YET

Located on the Capilano River in North Van, the Capilano Salmon Hatchery is a lesser-known hometown attraction. When the normal spawning areas for returning Capilano salmon were cut off by construction of the Cleveland Dam, the hatchery was built to give the salmon the best shot at survival. The visit includes a self-guided tour through the tanks that hold juvenile fish and—if BEST-KEPT SECRET FOR FINDING you pick the right time of year—the CHEAP EATS This will come as a surprise to some: chance to see thousands of salmon West Point Grey. The granddaddy launching themselves up the ladder. of them all is The Diner (4556 West A walk north on the other side of the 10th Avenue), which is still serving river will take you to a lookout for the low-cost “British Fayre” in its 60th dam, and a side trail up the hill heads year. For hungry students on a budget, to a beautiful old-growth tree grove. there’s also affordable Szechuan, rice Best of all, it’s free. burgers, Korean food, and sushi galore. Bella Roma Pizzeria & Ristorante BEST PLACE TO WATCH A (4460 West 10th Avenue) offers a HORROR MOVIE second pasta at half-price. Everyone Ever been so absorbed in a horror knows that real-estate costs are sky- f lick it felt like you were in it? Turns high in West Point Grey, but that out you can be. Every second Tuesdoesn’t mean bargains can’t be found day of the month, the Vancouver Poin its dining establishments. lice Museum hosts a series of films in the never-been-renovated old ACTIVITIES & EVENTS city morgue. Famed for its stack of mortuary drawers, its autopsy suite with two shiny metal tables, and an BEST PLACE TO FIND A abandoned laboratory, the spot is HALLOWEEN COSTUME The Party Bazaar (1296 Station terrifying in its authenticity. Forget Street) is having a blowout sale like the drive-in theatre—after a night never before. Sadly, that’s because watching Se7en or The Silence of the B.C.’s headquarters for Halloween Lambs in a location that gruesome, costumes is closing its doors forever you’ll never sleep without the lights on November 4 after four decades in on again. business. The bargains are amazing.

The memories for many Vancouver- BEST WAY TO SPEND $20K IN ites are indelible. But a new hospital WHISTLER is going in on the other side of the If you find yourself with $20,000 in nearby train station, so the site of spare change, why not spend it on the store is being redeveloped for an an extravagant culinary experience office building. In Vancouver’s real- that includes a helicopter ride and estate world, fun always takes a back ice-cave journey? The Four Seasons seat to financial gain.

Resort and Residences Whistler have teamed up with Head-line Mountains Holidays to offer this luxury BEST PLACE TO HOST package for those who have deep VANCOUVER’S NEXT MARCH pockets. The six-hour trip includes FOR SCIENCE Gwyneth Paltrow’s much lambasted a limo ride, scenic flight, guided icelifestyle brand, Goop, is bringing cave exploration, private five-course its annual wellness summit to Van- dinner, and Krug champagne. This couver this fall, likely with a lineup totally affordable price will get you of pseudoscientific seminars and—if and another guest a serving of caviar we’re lucky!—hormone-balancing inside the Blue Room, which is the vaginal eggs in tow. That is to say, the ice cave you probably wouldn’t have conference’s location at scenic Stan- access to otherwise. Overnight acley Park makes an apt site for the 2018 commodations are not included, but edition of the city’s March for Science see next page

Dear readers of The Georgia Straight, THANK YOU SO MUCH for your decision to elect the Vancouver Maritime Museum as Runner Up in the category Best Local Museum!

We feel strengthened in our ambitions to continue to entice all of you by telling the essential stories related to the maritime history of the Pacific Northwest and by sharing our insights with you all – our dearest supporters.

We cannot do this without you or without the museum’s wonderful staff, board and sponsors – we are grateful for all your loyal support through the years that has brought us to where we are now.

Dr. Joost C.A. Schokkenbroek Executive Director Vancouver Maritime Museum

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vanmaritime.com

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BURNABY Location

REASON TO LINE UP

Torontonians have a reputation for being willing to line up for almost anything—patio seats, shoes, and ice cream included—but Vancouver isn’t far behind, if the recent opening of Japanese-cheesecake chain Uncle Tetsu is any indication. The company, which is known for its delightfully fluffy cheesecake-meets-soufflé creations, unveiled its first western Canadian outpost in Burnaby this spring to an eager crowd of hundreds—numbers that continued to be recorded weeks after the official launch. In fact, head to the Metrotown counter today and you’re likely to see a neat queue of customers following a velvet rope that now seems to sit permanently outside. But, really, we shouldn’t be surprised: the same thing happened with Japanese retailers Muji and Uniqlo, both of which also made their B.C. debuts in Burnaby.

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www.peakformwellness.com OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 45

BEST OF VANCOUVER

Thank You Vancouver!

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www.sasanding.com BEST

CURIOSITIES FOR YOUR CABINET

“Oddities, trinkets, & scientific interests” is the store’s motto, and, accordingly, This Monkey’s Gone to Heaven (2244 East Hastings Street)— an eccentric little Hastings-Sunrise emporium—serves up enough to create your own weird mini museum. Think butterflies in resin, mink skulls, and taxidermied mice in bell jars. Set those off with cacti planted in vintage baby doll heads and intricately carved cow skulls. Should you wish to take things further, the store gallery offers everything from taxidermy for beginners to butterfly-pinning workshops.

Studio 700, and the Vancouver Public from previous page what’s another couple hundred dol- Library’s Inspiration Lab. lars on top of that 20 grand you’ve already spent?

BEST MATERIAL FOR A PUBLIC BEST WAY TO AVOID GETTING A CONCUSSION WHEN BIKE RIDING

It’s never a good idea to hold anything other than your bicycle handles when you’re cruising down a hill, but sometimes you just have the urge to take out your smartphone to snap a quick photo or video. This is especially true if you happen to be riding through Stanley Park: the city skyline, lush evergreens, and beautiful water views might entice you to grab your phone. But that’s exactly how accidents happen: you forget that your bicycling skills are not superior, and suddenly you lose balance and tumble head-first to the concrete.

The best way to avoid all of this is to scrap bike-riding altogether and just take a walk along the seawall.

BEST NOON-HOUR FOOD FOR THOUGHT, WITH A SIDE OF KILLER CURRY

Indian Summer Festival’s Tiffin Talks were a brilliant mashup of culture and food. Located at its funky PAUSE pavilion in Vanier Park this past July, with a view out to the mountains and Burrard Inlet, the long-table lunches served up steaming-hot dishes in Indian-style tiffins.

Meanwhile, artists, writers, business leaders, architects, and others shared ideas along with their food.

Distinguished Alumni

BEST NEW FESTIVAL TO LISTEN OUT FOR

Dr. Blye Frank, Dean, Faculty of Education, UBC, is delighted to honour the valued work and contributions of the UBC Faculty of Education Alumni. Biographies and interviews with some of our !!.,/+(2'#" alumni can be found here: http://educ.ubc.ca/ distinguishedalum

Pauline Sameshima BEd ’88, Dip (Ed) ’91, PhD ’06

Martina Seo BEd ’09, MET ’17

Equity and access are the keys to inclusion.

The research projects I’m currently involved in are all focused on how doors can be opened through research methodologies, knowledge mobilization,Ť#"4! 3(.-ď and policy change.

Obstacles to inclusion and equity exist when support for students with special needs, mental health issues, and learning disabilities is lacking. My lifelong dream is to open an orphanage to help children though education, housing, and adoption.

46 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

Vancouver Podcast Festival November 8 to 10

Experts have chalked it up to everything from screen fatigue to our craving for authentic storytelling.

But whatever the reason, podcasts have been surging in popularity. Enter our friends at DOXA, who seized the chance to launch the first ever Vancouver Podcast Festival in November with a program focused on True Crime, True Justice. Think live tapings by podcasters from across North America, plus panel discussions, workshops, and creator meetand-greets for true fans. We’re talking everything from appearances by Rap Gods to hosts and producers from CBC’s popular This Is That, as well as Someone Knows Something, You Must Remember This, On Drugs, and In the Dark. Venues include the Rio Theatre, CBC Vancouver’s

ARTWORK

Artists Helen Reed and Hannah Jickling are using chewing gum for their cool and kid-friendly new art project, QA CHEW’S BUBBLE TROUBLE. It’s the result of the VIVA Award winners’ ongoing residency, Big Rock Candy Mountain, at Queen Alexandra elementary on Vancouver’s East Side. The program has been called everything from a flavour incubator to a taste-making think tank.

In it, students worked with different ingredients, colours, and even a foodscience expert. Jickling explains in an artists’ statement: “The kids learn about processes of production and the materials that comprise goods. Big Rock Candy Mountain doesn’t promote gratuitous candy consumption, but complicates the relationship to sweets as culturally defined objects of desire. We chose gum because it’s a difficult material: it’s sticky, messy, and even banned from public schools.” Described as fruity-sweet, the “limited edition gum” will be sold at Western Front gallery (where there will be a complementary exhibit called Mouthfeel this month) and distributed there and elsewhere at Halloween. A sticky business, indeed.

BEST SPOT TO VISIT WHEN YOU MISS DISNEYLAND

Nothing really compares to Disney theme-park magic, but if you find yourself missing Mickey’s home, head over to Vancouver’s very own Science World. The educational attraction is currently running a Disney-themed exhibition: The Science Behind Pixar. It features more than 40 interactive displays that showcase the science, technology, engineering, and math behind popular films like Toy Story and Finding Nemo. If you’re a Disney fanatic, you’ll see many familiar faces, including Buzz Lightyear, Dory, and Edna Mode, among others.

BEST PLACE TO CHANNEL YOUR INNER BEYONCÉ OR BRUNO MARS

If you’re looking for an alternative to signing up for a gym membership (because you think lifting weights and running on treadmills aren’t stimulating enough), check out RSVP33, a local dance company. It’s open to everyone, including beginners with no dance experience as well as those who have had training. You’ll be swaying your see page 48

WE YOU TOO SIMPLY THRILLED We are honoured and delighted to be called Vancouver’s favourite grocer.

Since 1955 we’ve worked to be welcoming in spirit, leading in products and fresh in food. We are so very grateful to have the support of our customers and to play a role in the Lower Mainland where we do business. At IGA we are simple goodness and today, we are simply thrilled.

igastoresbc.com

YALETOWN VOTED RUNNER-UP FOR BEST NEIGHBOURHOOD

Jade Stone Photography

THANK YOU GEORGIA STRAIGHT READERS

CONNECT WITH GREAT CHEFS

OCTOBER 18-28, 2018

CONNECT WITH A FRESH CATCH Reserve your spot at the 14th Annual Taste of Yaletown and connect with friends to dine out today. Details and menus at yaletowninfo.com

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Thank you to our Media Sponsors

OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 47

BEST OF VANCOUVER

Photo by Lucy Lau

BEST

PLACE TO LOSE YOURSELF IN A TIM BURTON FILM

Vancouver loves its sleek, minimalist cafés, but the recently launched Laurence & Chico Café is offering a different, more surreal take on the traditional caffeine stop—and plenty of Instagram photo ops, to boot. Founded by the minds behind New York City– and Vancouver-based fashion label Laurence & Chico, the shop feels straight out of a scene of Tim Burton’s reimagining of Alice in Wonderland. Think images of giant eyeballs and creepy-cool reptiles splashed onto the walls, whimsical holes in the ceiling that reveal a pair of dangling mannequin legs, and restrooms adorned with hundreds of rubber yellow ducks. If you love something enough, you can even take it home: every item—from the fringe-and-pearl-embellished lighting fixtures to the black-porcelain teapots—is for sale. from page 46 hips and rolling your bodies with a high-energy crowd, learning choreography to throwback songs, the latest pop tunes, and Beyoncé hits. If you feel nervous because you think all eyes are on you, don’t worry—everyone is too busy looking at themselves.

BEST WAY TO LEARN ABOUT HIGH ACHIEVERS IN VANCOUVER’S LATIN AMERICAN COMMUNITY

2018 WINNER for FETISH WEAR

Latincouver’s executive director, Paola Murillo, often points out that there are more than 125,000 people of Latin American ancestry living in Metro Vancouver, counting students. On November 1, Latincouver will honour the community’s heroes at its fifth annual Inspirational Latin Awards gala. Pay attention to this community. It’s doing lots of great things in the arts, business, sports, academia, and activism. One inspirational Latin American immigrant to Vancouver, HIV/AIDS researcher Dr. Julio Montaner, leads a team that developed treatments to turn a death sentence into a chronic medical condition.

And if Colombian immigrant and socialjustice warrior Diego Cardona gets elect-

2018 Runner Up for SEX TOY SHOP

Thank you for voting us Best in Vancouver 2018!! #bestinvancouver 13 years in a row!!

48 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

ed to Vancouver city council on October urday bill headlined by Florence + the 20, the city will finally have its first Latin Machine, and 17,000 turning up to close American sitting in the council chamber. out the weekend with a Sunday set by the Killers. Add major revelations (hello, St. Vincent and Father John Misty), veteran BEST START-UP MUSIC FEST Sure it rained like Tofino in Nov- crowd pleasers (Metric and Bahamas), ember, but that inconvenience did and a strong showing by veteran local little to dampen the enthusiasm of acts (Mother Mother at its oddball best) those who attended the first edition and you had a festival that looks bound of SKOOKUM Festival in Stanley Park. for great things in the future—including, The goal of organizers was both simple hopefully, weather that doesn’t look like and ambitious: to bring a major, multi- Vancouver in Juneuary. day musical blowout to Vancouverites in an easily accessible locale. Forget BEST GOLDEN-YEARS having to load up the Hummer and RETIREMENT PLAN head to Squamish or Pemberton, SKOO- Vancouver is consistently ranked KUM was just a bike ride, SkyTrain, or one of the most livable cities on the Evo commute away in the middle of a planet, but that doesn’t change the remajestic park. From art installations to ality that it’s also one of the most unon-site fire pits for warming up, almost affordable places in the universe. One every detail seemed meticulously con- way to ensure you won’t be folding up ceived. And, God forbid, you could ac- your tent and moving to a Williams tually walk around with a craft beer in Lake trailer park in your golden years your hand. As with almost any startup, is to have kids and steer them into a there were some glitches, a big one being profession that ensures they’ll have long lineups at the festival’s gourmet- the money to take care of you. Screw food stalls. But one might argue that aiming low for a career as a doctor was a sign that SKOOKUM was more or a lawyer—instead, sign up your successful than anyone dreamed, with spawn where the real money is this 18,500 attendees showing up for a Satsee next page

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BEST OF VANCOUVER BEST

CITY LIFE

PHILANTHROPIST

1. Jim Pattison 2. Joe Segal 3. David Suzuki

VANCOUVER LEGEND

1. Trevor Linden 2. Terry Fox 3. Ryan Reynolds

LOCAL HERO

1. Daniel and Henrik Sedin 2. Terry Fox 3. David Suzuki

LOCAL INFLUENCER

1. Dr. Christopher Pavlou 2. David Suzuki 3. Erin Ireland

LOCAL INSTAGRAM 1. staysinspired 2. Dr. Pavlou 3. Erin Ireland

days: hip-hop. (Did you know that Jay-Z pulled down $76.5 million last year, according to Forbes, with Kendrick Lamar pocketing $58 million?)

The Hip Hop Drop is a drop-in program in gloriously gritty East Van, running 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays in the old Astorino’s dance hall at 1739 Venables. The weekly event features a free recording studio, mentorship in rapping and freestyling, guidance in the arts of graffiti and breakdancing, and tips for those who’d rather man the wheels of steals. If you’ve got a kid between the ages or 12 and 18, this might be the career jump-start that gets them writing something as immortal as N.W.A’s “Fuck Tha Police”, the Geto Boys’ “Gangsta of Love”, or Rico Nasty’s “Smack a Bitch”. Or, failing that, Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby”, which, the last time we checked, was still paying the bills for Robbie Van Winkle.

BEST BARGAINS FOR BOOK FIENDS

Lovers of literature, mysteries, and nonfiction tomes are all going to converge on the Vancouver Public Library central branch later this month for the city’s most glorious book sale. This annual event takes place in the Alice MacKay Room from October 25 to 27, with fiction titles selling for a buck apiece. That’s less than the cost of a coffee in the nearby Blenz. Children’s nonfiction and picture books are also only $1 each. Most other items will be on sale for $2.50. And you never know who you might run into at this sale. A few years ago, Straight editor Charlie Smith had a brush with celebrity

VANCOUVER’S CLAIM TO FAME

1. 2010 Winter Olympics 2. Stanley Park 3. Beautiful city/natural beauty

VANCOUVER’S CLAIM TO SHAME

1. Homelessness 2. Downtown Eastside 3. Home prices/housing crisis

VANCOUVERITE CLOSEST TO HELL

1. Gregor Robertson 2. Christy Clark 3. Chip Wilson

YEAR’S DUMBEST POLITICAL MOVE

1. Feds’ Kinder Morgan pipeline purchase 2. Adding too many bike lanes 3. No rideshare/Uber/Lyft approval

BEST WAY TO REVAMP YOUR WARDROBE WITHOUT FEELING AN OUNCE OF GUILT

exhibit called 100 Years of Motorcycling. Even if you have never climbed on a motorcycle, you will still be imIn case you haven’t heard, the fast-fash- pressed by this extensive collection. ion industry—what with all the pollution Styles range from badass beauties right and discarded textiles it produces—is out of Easy Rider to vintage finds right not exactly kind to the environment. But out of Hogan’s Heroes, plus many rare First Pick Handmade, a biannual “slow bikes you’ll only find in this exhibition. fashion” market championing sustain- It’s historical and hardcore, just like ably crafted threads, is helping residents East Van. Entry by donation. green up their closets with a selection of locally designed and produced coats, BEST BRIDGE BUILDING BY A recycled-leather totes, reclaimed-wood FESTIVAL ARTISTIC DIRECTOR jewellery, and more. Who knew shop- There are some outstanding community ping could feel—and look—so good? builders at the helm of various festivals in the Lower Mainland. The Richmond World Festival, for instance, celebrates BEST MOTORBIKE HISTORY the region’s diversity through music, LESSON art, and food, bringing in performers Trev Deeley Motorcycles that appeal to a broad cross-section of 1875 Boundary Road Last year marked the 100th anniver- the population. It’s a veritable United sary of the Deeley family opening the Nations in Minoru Park every Labour first Harley Davidson dealership in Day weekend. The Indian Summer Canada. To honour the milestone, Trev Festival also stands out for its broadDeeley curated an massive, hog-happy minded approach, bringing together

Indigenous performers with others from minority communities this year for a remarkable intercultural exchange of ideas and music. One of the most intriguing efforts at bridge building has been occurring at TaiwanFest in recent years. The key organizer, Charlie Wu, has been curating a Dialogues With Asia series since 2016, which explores the connections between Taiwan and its neighbours. It began by looking at the parallels with Hong Kong—and in particular, both countries’ student movements. The following year, Japan was in the spotlight as TaiwanFest took stock of the long-term impact of being a part of that country from 1895 to 1945. This year, the festival focused on the shared heritage of Indigenous communities in Taiwan and the Philippines. TaiwanFest even featured a Pinoy block on Granville Street as part of its celebration For a weekend, two Pacific island nations became the closest of friends in Vancouver.

when he bumped into Nardwuar the Human Serviette. No doubt, the Nard was mining for precious material that he was planning to present in the future to his often-startled interview subjects.

BEST SOON-TO-DEPART EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF A BIA

When people think of Vancouver legends, names like Jimmy Pattison or the Sedin twins invariably come to mind. But in Gastown, Leanore Sali has achieved legendary status for her advocacy for the city’s oldest neighbourhood.

The long-time executive director of the Gastown Business Improvement Society is moving on after playing a monumental role in the transformation of the area from a dilapidated heritage district into one of the jewels of Vancouver. Under her leadership, the society launched a lane-cleaning program, now run by United We Can, that provides employment for marginalized residents. She helped bring back the Gastown Grand Prix, which is overseen by Global Relay, and the always delightful Yule Duel.

Choirs from across the city converge on Gastown in early December, re-creating the feel of Victorian England as they sing carols in different blocks. Celebrity judges choose the winner, with all the funds raised going to May’s Place hospice in the Downtown Eastside. Through her compassion and her determination to help small merchants succeed, Sali set an impressive example for BIA executive directors across the city. And never once, in all the years that we can recall, did she ever try to bring credit upon herself for her accomplishments.

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Photo by Greenpeace

BEST

MEDIA STUNT FROM A BRIDGE

On July 3, a dozen activists dangled on ropes below the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge, suspended hundreds of feet above Burrard Inlet.

They unfurled banners in opposition to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, which involves twinning an oil pipeline that runs from Edmonton to Burnaby. Upon completion, Trans Mountain—which was recently purchased by the Canadian government—would triple the amount of bitumen transported to the Lower Mainland, increasing the number of oil tankers moving through Burrard Inlet from some 60 ships per year to more than 400. The Greenpeace members dangled from the bridge in a dramatic show of environmental activism, calling attention to a project that would contribute to Canada’s greenhouse-gas emissions for generations to come.

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OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 49

BEST OF VANCOUVER

Pearson’s eye for design scans the city INDUSTRY EXPERTS

which I think is important. For example, Shipway uses a lot of reclaimed materials, so he [owner and designer ANNE PEARSON Romney D. Shipway] is going around When Anne Pearson opened Van- finding off-cuts of marble from kitchen couver Special in 2008, there was noth- manufacturers, and making products ing quite like the cheery, dreamily out of that marble. curated concept boutique in the city.

In fact, that was the point: the young BEST INDEPENDENT DESIGN architect wanted to introduce Vancou- SHOP OTHER THAN YOURS ver to a version of the inspiring, all-en- Walrus compassing design stores she had come 3408 Cambie Street across in places like Kyoto, Los An- It’s my go-to for gifts. They have great geles, and Berlin during her travels—a jewellery, and the owners are just lovely. spot that combined clever, unique, and well-designed and -priced home ob- BEST LOCAL LIGHTING DESIGNER jects like collapsible whisks, colourful ANDlight radio clocks, and origami-influenced They have lights that are applicable to table mats under one roof. both residential and commercial enWhat’s more, she wanted the shop vironments, so they’d be great for your to be more than a place where one-way transactions happened. “I wanted to provide a space that didn’t just funcBEST LIFESTYLE tion as retail,” she tells the Straight by phone. “I wanted it to be a hub for deCONTEMPORARY signers and a place where we could also FURNITURE STORE 1. INspiration Furniture hold events, book signings, lectures, 1275 West 6th Avenue and parties for the creative community 2. Structube in Vancouver.”

Various locations Working under the belief that “good 3. west elm design should be accessible for all people 2947 Granville Street and not just the elite”, Pearson strives to showcase the latest innovations by young INDEPENDENT FURNITURE and up-and-coming designers—many of STORE them from right here in Vancouver. So, 1. Moe’s Home Collection Various locations when it came to this year’s Best of Van2. Suquet couver issue, we couldn’t think of anyone Various locations better to pinpoint the region’s most stun3. The Cross Décor & Design ning, surprising, and must-see design1198 Homer Street centric people, places, and things.

BEST LOCAL FURNITURE DESIGNER Knauf and Brown Shipway Living Design Greg Papove

All of them use materials in unique ways or invent their own materials,

SPECIALTY FURNITURE STORE

1. Montauk Sofa Vancouver 228 Abbott Street 2. CF Interiors Various locations 3. By Design Modern 915 Cotton Drive

living room, for a restaurant, for an by B.C. Binning—and it’s perfectly office. They really bridge all those en- preserved. You can go up there— vironments. and above all the greeting cards, shampoo, you can see this incredible mural. It’s there because the buildBEST ON-A-BUDGET HOMEFURNISHINGS STORE BESIDES IKEA ing was originally built as the main branch of the CIBC in the 1950s.

Muji Various locations

I used to live in Japan, so I’ve always been a big fan of Muji—especially their storage solutions: the clear plastic bins of all sizes. And I really love their bathroom accessories and stationery, of course.

Anne Pearson, of Vancouver Special, says she loves local design and all things Japanese.

VINTAGE FURNITURE STORE

Patkau Architects

This firm doesn’t have a particular aesthetic that they apply to every project. They treat each project separately; they look at the site, they look at the client, they look at the program. And they develop the language BEST HIDDEN DESIGN GEM of the architecture around those, Shoppers Drug Mart rather than mandating a certain style 586 Granville Street If you go upstairs, there’s an old on each project, so every single one mural—a 40-foot glass mosaic mural see next page

HOME APPLIANCE STORE

1. Attic Treasures and Mid Century Modern 944 Commercial Drive 2. ReFind, 4609 Main Street 3. Kollekt www.kollekt.ca/

1. Trail Appliances Various locations 2. Midland Appliance Various locations 3. Coast Appliances Various locations

ANTIQUE STORE

KITCHENWARE STORE

1. Antique Market 1324 Franklin Street 2. Antique Warehouse 226 Southwest Marine Drive 3. Baker’s Dozen Antiques 3520 Main Street

1. Ming Wo Various locations 2. The Gourmet Warehouse 1340 East Hastings Street 3. Cook Culture Various locations

INDEPENDENT ELECTRONICS STORE

HOME-IMPROVEMENT STORE

1. Simply Computing 1690 West Broadway 2. Memory Express Various locations 3. The Sound Room 2025 West Broadway

BEST LOCAL ARCHITECT

1. Home Hardware Various locations 2. Kerrisdale Lumber 6191 West Boulevard 3. Windsor Plywood Various locations

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MUSICAL INSTRUMENT STORE

1. Long & McQuade Various locations 2. Tom Lee Music Various locations 3. Rufus Guitar Shop 2621 Alma Street

RECORD SHOP

1. Red Cat Records Various locations 2. Zulu Records 1972 West 4th Avenue 3. Neptoon Records 3561 Main Street

FLORIST

1. Flower Factory 4285 Main Street 2. Divine Vines 1024 Mainland Street 3. Celsia Florist 1930 Arbutus Street

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BEST OF VANCOUVER of their buildings looks completely BEST RESTAURANT DESIGN different.

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Laura Melling, creative director at Laura Melling Interior Design + Styling Alyssa Lewis, creative director at Studio Block Andrea McLean, cofounder of the Aviary and owner of Andrea McLean Design Office

1038 Canada Place Pepino’s Spaghetti House 630 Commercial Drive St. Lawrence 269 Powell Street

Craig Stanghetta, who’s the designer at Ste. Marie [Art + Design, the firm behind these restaurants’ interiors], has a really eclectic sense of styling. He has a way of creating a space that fully immerses you into another They’re incredibly talented women place, into another time, into another and they have a very similar aesthetic world. His level of attention to detail to my style, which is very Scandinav- is really incredible. ian and minimalist. And they’re not afraid of colour.

BEST RETAIL OR BOUTIQUE BEST CHEAP THRILL

BEST MUSEUM STORE The Polygon Shop at the Polygon Gallery 101 Carrie Cates Court, North Vancouver

I always recommend that people go check out the new Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver. Their museum shop carries local jewellery and ceramics, and they have an amazing selection of photography books.

BEST AREA FOR DESIGN-SPOTTING University of British Columbia 2329 West Mall

UBC has the best collection of new and old architecture in the city.

They have really succeeded in creating Nada buildings that I think you wouldn’t be 675 East Broadway They’ve done a really incredible job able to pull off in other places in Vanwith that space. It’s very white and couver, because they have their own crisp and plain; they have really planning guidelines. punchy, pink-and-white graphics.

by Lucy Lau DESIGNS

Goods by Lindsey Hampton, who is both a ceramist and graphic designer. I get a lot of joy from her colourful and geometric mugs and vases.

Vancouver Special aims to go beyond retail, becoming a designer hub with book signings, lectures, and events, and a passion for showing innovations by young and up-and-coming talents.

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YOU DID IT. You’re responsible for this.

We are humbled and very grateful to once again be voted by you as Vancouver’s Best Hair Salon. This is the 23rd consecutive year that you have honoured us with your support, your confidence, and your vote.

Our success is very much a result of you and the trust you continue to place in us.

Thank you and please know that we will always strive to meet your expectations.

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#BestOfVan 52 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

Details on STRAIGHT.COM

BEST OF VANCOUVER

Local designer dishes on city’s most fashionable As the cofounder of local womenswear label Gentle Fawn, Carla Hogg knows a thing or two about style

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Thanks for Voting Us Carla Hogg, who celebrates Gentle Fawn’s 15th anniversary this year, enjoys style- and trendspotting at indepdendent coffee shops in Gastown, as well as at shows and concerts.

INDUSTRY EXPERTS CARLA HOGG Not many locally based fashion brands can say they’ve survived more than a decade of fleeting runway trends, a crippling recession, and a rapidly changing brick-and-mortar landscape that continues to challenge how retailers do business today.

But Vancouver’s Gentle Fawn proves that, by sticking to a clearly defined

BEST

aesthetic and knowing your target audience inside and out, success isn’t only probable—it’s enduring.

Founded in 2003 by husband-andwife team Daniel and Carla Hogg, the laid-back, West Coast–influenced women’s label entered the local market during a time when streetwear—graphic Ts, hoodies, and baggy denim—was hot on the scene. The Hoggs thought there was an underserved market in twentysomething women who were looking for softer, see page 55

STYLE

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1. 8 West Cosmetic Surgery & Skin Clinic 300–1788 West Broadway 2. Skinworks 3568/3578 West 41st Avenue 3. The Vanity Lab 302–1110 Hamilton Street

PLACE TO GET A FACIAL

1. Skin Technique 1046 Hamilton Street 2. The Vanity Lab 302–1110 Hamilton Street 3. Skoah Various locations

PLACE TO GET EYELASH EXTENSIONS

1. Mira Studios 152 East 13th Street, North Vancouver 2. Noir Lash Lounge Various locations 3. Mink Lash Boutique 1237 Burrard Street

PLACE TO GET WAXED

PLACE FOR A NONSURGICAL MAKEOVER

1. Dermapure 3568 West 41st Avenue 2. Skinworks 3568/3578 West 41st Avenue 3. Skin Technique 1046 Hamilton Street

LASER HAIR REMOVAL CENTRE

1. Vancouver Laser & Skin Care Centre 309–750 West Broadway 2. Skin Technique 1046 Hamilton Street 3. The Vanity Lab 302–1110 Hamilton Street

Vintage

BARBERSHOP

1. Barber & Co. Various locations 2. Robson Barbers Various locations 3. Studio D Hair Salon 5890 Fraser Street

HAIR SALON

1. Stripped Ladies & Gents Wax Bar Various locations 2. Dona Lucia Esthetics Salon Various locations 3. Cutie Pie Wax Bar Various locations

1. Suki’s Various locations 2. Poppy Hair Salon 2686 West 4th Avenue 3. Moods Hair Salon 1070 Mainland Street

SALON FOR PEDICURE/ MANICURE

INDEPENDENT SPA

1. Pure Nail Bar Various locations 2. Luxe Beauty Lounge 123–1208 Homer Street 3. Yaletown Nail Spa 1260 Hamilton Street

Mid-Century

1. The Vanity Lab 302–1110 Hamilton Street 2. Le Petit Spa 4–3701 West Broadway 3. Spa Utopia Various locations

ATTIC TREASURES

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BEST OF VANCOUVER

from page 53 more feminine pieces like lightweight blouses, wrap dresses, and crushedvelvet tanks. They were right: so right, in fact, that, 15 years later, the company continues to attract fans in Vancouver and beyond.

“We’re really designing those go-to pieces in your closet that would make you feel great every day,” Carla tells the Straight by phone.

Now based in Mount Pleasant, where the entirety of Gentle Fawn’s operations is housed, Carla shares that the brand has certainly matured with its customers over the years, becoming more sophisticated and refined. However, many of the pieces that put Gentle Fawn on the map in the early aughts—f lowing minidresses, cozy cardis, and wear-anywhere scoop-hem Ts—can still be found in its collections now. These easybreezy, transitional garments aren’t concerned with trends, but rather are crafted to ensure that the wearer feels comfortable and confident at all hours of the day.

“The clothing that we make for our customers is going to take her from the office to the work party in the afternoon to a date night,” notes Carla. “So it’s got to be versatile, it’s got to be effortless, and it’s got to be fashionable.”

Gentle Fawn is ringing in its 15th birthday with the introduction of sleepwear and a glam ’70s-inspired fall/winter 2018 line—one where jumpsuits, spaced-out florals, and textured off-the-shoulder sweaters are huge, shares Carla. The label

I’m always able to find something from them.

BEST NEIGHBOURHOOD FOR SHOPPING

South Granville or Gastown are always my recommendations for shopping neighbourhoods—there is so much on offer in each!

BEST INDIE FASHION BOUTIQUE Woo to See You 1062 Mainland Street 3671 Main Street

Woo to See You is one of my favourite curated boutiques. I like that they try and pull in local brands as much as possible, and are particular about the items in store. Plug: Woo to See You carries Gentle Fawn!

BEST CHEAP THRILL

I’m all about the Healing Hands soothing hand lotion from Saje Natural Wellness. This cream is something I cannot live without, especially as we transition into colder weather.

BEST LOCAL FASHION DESIGNER OTHER THAN YOU Beth Richards Reigning Champ

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Thank you for your votes!

There are some great designers coming out of Vancouver, and I love how the industry is continuing to bring in talent.

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BEST LOCAL ACCESSORY DESIGNER

I recently came across Just B Smiling’s phone cases at [local consignment

There are some great designers coming out of Vancouver, and I love how the industry is continuing to bring in talent.

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– Carla Hogg

reached another milestone earlier this year, becoming available from more than 700 retailers in North America.

Throughout its growth, Gentle Fawn has maintained its Vancouver roots, designing all its collections here and having graphic designers produce the pretty, free-spirited prints in-house.

Given the brand’s history in Vancouver, Carla has her own faves when it comes to the region’s most stylish people, places, and things. Below, we pick her brain for a few of them.

BEST PLACE FOR STYLEWATCHING Buro Espresso Bar 356 Water Street Prado Café Various locations

shop] Hunter & Hare and am in love with their use of dried f lorals.

Each case is so unique! I especially like that they’re all handmade in Vancouver.

BEST PLACE FOR FASHIONDESIGN INSPO

While we mainly travel and look to the runways for design inspiration, I’d be lying if I said I don’t trend-spot at concerts and shows. People tend to push the fashion boundaries at these events.

BEST FITTING ROOMS Nordstrom 799 Robson Street

Nordstrom in downtown Vancouver has some of the nicest, cleanest fitThe cafés in Gastown are some of ting rooms. I like the attentive asthe best places to get your style fix. sociates and having mirrors in the It’s a good mix of people with unique rooms—rather than outside—as well. tastes.

BEST LOCAL JEWELLERY DESIGNER

BEST FASHION TREND TO HIT VANCOUVER

This year, I’d say that the ’70s influence is what’s getting me most excited.

Jumpsuits are huge! The era is transAdmittedly, I’m a little biased, as these lated in many ways, so you’ll be seeing designers are often our go-tos when se- lots of easy-to-wear, flattering wrap lecting jewellery for our shoots. From dresses in all lengths. dainty pieces to something a little bolder,

by Lucy Lau Leah Alexandra Melanie Auld

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OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 55

The Georgia Straight Confessions, an outlet for submitting revelations about your private lives—or for the voyeurs among us who want to read what other people have disclosed.

Scan to confess Please don’t get down on people trying to get in shape Getting in shape is a truly transformative experience for people that takes time, energy and hard earned money. When I made the decision to get fit I was coming out of a relationship with someone addicted to drugs, super depressed and smoking cigarettes constantly. I’ve spent a ton of money to get myself out of that place (money I was spending on cigarettes) and becoming fit from exercise was just a bonus to all the ways I felt better. I used to be a total hater on folks who posted fitness things on Instagram and Facebook.... (con’t @straight.com)

WE MUST BE ON THE RIGHT PATH

For the sake of my own mental health I’m cutting WAY BACK on my Internet browsing. I like the news sites to see what’s happening in the world but every site is full of insane nonsense about Trump and/or Kanye West and/or The Kardashians. I’m outta here, gonna stick to Netflix and reading books.

Thanks Georgia Straight readers for voting G Adventures Best Adventure Tour Company for the 10th year in a row.

As a token of our appreciation, save 10% when you book your next G Adventure. Just quote promo code 19GA010ADV14.

2018 Municipal Elections Some of the municipal elections in the lower mainland are gonna get pretty ugly, especially in places like Surrey. First, get to know each of the candidates. Ask them where they stand on poverty, crime, transit etc and how they’re going to deal with it.

Then make an informed decision before filling out the ballots.

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Entitled.

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by G Adventures. Bookings must be under agency code 111 only. This promotion is only open to residents of Canada. Cannot be combined with any other offers, promotions or discounts and is subject to availability. Does not apply to National Geographic Journeys with G Adventures, Private Groups/Departures, Expedition, Galapagos boats, SPIT (The Inca Trail), AFMS (Maldives Dhoni Cruise), Cuba land trips, Independent trips, pre- or post-tour accommodation, insurance, international airfare not specified in the itinerary, upgrades, add-ons, “My Own Room” or “My Own Tent,” transfers, theme packs, or other in-country or on-board services.

G Adventures reserves the right to withdraw this offer from sale at any time without prior notice. Any refunds made with respect to products booked under this promotion shall be issued at the discounted rate. G Adventures reserves the right to cancel any booking due to unauthorized, altered, ineligible, or fraudulent use of discount. G Adventures is not responsible for technical or system errors that may interfere with or otherwise prohibit the use of the promotion. All G Adventures’ tours are subject to G Adventures’ full booking conditions, found here: gadventures.com/terms-conditions-policies/

People who think the rules don’t apply to them, really piss me off.

Visit

to post a Confession

Thank You for Voting Us Vancouver’s

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BEST OF VANCOUVER

Consider commute when planning mortgage INDUSTRY EXPERTS NICOLE TURCOTTE After many years of working in a bank, Nicole Turcotte decided she wanted a new career.

She was looking for something that would keep her excited and at the same time allow her to use her financial literacy.

“The opportunity to go into mortgage brokering occurred, and that just seemed like a really good fit,” Turcotte told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview.

As a mortgage broker, she works with homebuyers and homeowners Best of Vancouver winner Nicole Turcotte in exploring their best financing op- advises folks to pay off their mortgage ASAP. tions. By the nature of her profession, Turcotte is not tied with any financial have “not seen a dramatic drop in institution, and she relies on a net- housing prices”. work of lenders.

“The problem-solving aspect of the business is what I really enjoy, and having BEST SERVICES access to numerous solutions through the brokering world is what really beFUNERAL HOME came interesting for me,” she said.

1. Amherst Funeral and Cremation Services The Vancouver broker noted that 1209–207 West Hastings Street things have become more difficult, es2. Valley View Funeral Home & pecially for first-time homebuyers.

Cemetery In January this year, the federal gov14644 72nd Avenue, Surrey ernment tightened up lending, making 3. Glenhaven Memorial Chapel it harder for many people to get a loan 1835 East Hastings Street for a home purchase. Previously, buyers who could not put down a payment LAWYER of at least 20 percent were subject to 1. Taylor & Blair 2. Devon Carbol (Carbol & a stress test, which meant they had to Associates) qualify for a higher interest rate.

3. Richard Sehmer (Murphy & Now, borrowers who can put down Company LLP) an initial payment of 20 percent or more have to pass the same test.

LAWYER “It is a really challenging time right WHEN ACCIDENT now because as we’ve seen, people are STRIKES qualifying for less,” Turcotte said.

1. Warnett Hallen LLP In B.C., the new mortgage rules have 2. Hammerberg Lawyers LLP 3. Jiwa Law Corp. slowed down the property market.

But as Turcotte pointed out, buyers

While noting that it can be a “very frustrating situation”, Turcotte said that buyers should not be stymied.

“The best thing that we can tell people is start out with what you can afford, be very realistic about what your budgets are, and make sure that you give yourself lots of time to plan to get to achieve your goals,” Turcotte said.

Talking about tips, here are some in Turcotte’s own words.

BEST WAY FOR A FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYER TO GET APPROVED FOR A MORTGAGE

The best thing that you can do is to speak to a mortgage broker before you start looking for property. That’s the big one, because what they need to do …have a realistic budget. So setting a realistic budget, and then making sure that your

BIKE LAWYER

Shop around. So whether you are doing that yourself by looking at other offers from different banks or lending institutions, or you speak to a broker who can do that for you, shopping around will be the most important because everyone’s unique situation is so different.

BEST WAY TO MANAGE A MORTGAGE

Here on the West Coast, especially in Vancouver, we tend to have very large mortgages. Whatever you can do to pay

1. Nicole Turcotte (Mortgage Alliance West) 2. Birgit Holm (Mortgage Alliance) 3. Michelle Byman (TMG The Mortgage Group)

IMMIGRATION LAWYER

1. Catherine A. Sas (Sas & Ing) 2. Tiffany Pang (Pioneer Law) 3. Ryan Rosenberg (Larlee Rosenberg)

REAL ESTATE AGENT

IMMIGRATION CONSULTANT

1. Sophie Yan (Top Consulting Group Inc.) 2. Fred Li (FP Immigration) 3. Behere Immigration Consulting 1. David Watts 2. Leonard Atwood 3. Alexander Ning

BEST WAY FOR HOMEOWNERS TO GET A GOOD DEAL WHEN RENEWING THEIR MORTGAGE

INDEPENDENT MORTGAGE BROKER

1. David Hay (Richards Buell Sutton) 2. Kevin McLaren (Hammerberg Lawyers LLP) 3. Warnett Hallan LLP

NOTARY

mortgage broker has all of the financial documents that they require for an approval. So this is really going through that discovery process with your broker.

1. Tim Neame (Royal Lepage Sussex) 2. Mike Rampf (Vancityliving) 3. Paul Toffoli (Paul Toffoli Personal Real Estate Corporation)

down your principal faster is what I recommend to clients. So even something as simple as switching from a monthly to a weekly payment can have a big impact in the overall amount of interest and how quickly you pay down your principal.

BEST NEIGHBOURHOODS FOR MILLENNIALS TO BUY A HOME IN VANCOUVER

Always, always consult a realtor, because they will know…the neighbourhoods [that are] the best. But my personal opinion…is that the Strathcona or Kensington–Cedar Cottage areas are the best places for millennials. Well, they’re just still up-and-coming areas of Vancouver, so there are opportunities there.

BEST ALTERNATIVE CITY TO VANCOUVER TO RAISE A FAMILY

I love Squamish. That would be where I would recommend raising a family, not only for the lifestyle opportunities that are there. I think a lot of families have moved out that way, and it’s still a reasonable drive into Vancouver if you do need to make a commute. And not only a reasonable drive, but a beautiful drive…

There are so many great opportunities now for flexible working environments where you can do…a portion in the office, a portion from home. And Squamish…it’s…45 minutes to an hour away from Vancouver. Its commute, in my personal opinion, is much nicer than, say, driving out on Highway 1.

BEST ADVICE YOU CAN SHARE

The best tip that I can give people is to take ownership of their finances and to do it early, and to really educate themselves on the options that are out there.

And I think one of the best things that goes hand in hand with mortgage planning is financial planning.

HOME CLEANING SERVICE

1. AspenClean 2. Sweet & Tidy 3. Deep’s Sunshine Cleaning

by Carlito Pablo

> Go on-line to read hundreds of I Saw You posts or to respond to a message < YOU GOT TWO SUGAR FREE ICE CREAMS AT URBAN FARE

r

r

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: OCTOBER 1, 2018 WHERE: Urban Fare, Yaletown I walked in, shuffled past you on my crutches by the berries, you had two cuties w you, one bean size the other pint. You looked up & smiled, I shot a half nervous smile 15 mins later we bumped into each other. You saw me coming on my crutches and held the door open for me to pick a flavour. I couldn't decide. You smiled at me curiously but assertively again, I looked down because I got shy.

Would love to get to know you, be friends, movies and other pleasurable activities.

BROADWAY COMMERCIAL 99 B-LINE

r

s

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: SEPTEMBER 29, 2018 WHERE: 99 B-line stop at Mid Lane We were waiting for 99 B-line on Broadway/Commercial. You were wearing light jean with a black chelsea boots and furry jacket. I was drinking Starbucks coffee, wearing a bomber jacket and listening to the music.

Also, I sat right next to you.

You got off at Main St. I'm regretting that I didn't ask for your phone number. I got off at the next stop and went back to Main to look for you. Hope I can reach or meet you again.

WE STOOD NEXT TO EACH OTHER AND I WAS LOST IN YOUR DREAMY EYES

r

s

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: OCTOBER 1, 2018 WHERE: SkyTrain It was Oct 1, we were standing next to each other on the SkyTrain before Royal Oak. I tried to resist looking into your dreamy eyes... but you looked into my eyes and we both smiled. Time had stopped and my heart stopped beating. It felt like eternity and I could never forget your beautiful brown eyes. If you felt the same... I’d love to see your smile again.

AS THE CROW FLIES

r

s

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 WHERE: Bike Shop.

You walked into my bike shop in search of “anything with a crow”. I was the new guy and had no idea if we had anything, but I proceeded to show you around the shop in search of crow memorabilia for a friends birthday party. The back and forth between us was awesome and you made my day. You mentioned it was turning out to be a flawless day, and I was inclined to agree. Except I didn’t ask you for your number or if you wanted to go for a drink.

Store policy :( Here’s hoping our paths will cross again!

VGH EMERGENCY: ATTENDING EHS PARAMEDIC W PATIENT. TOO MANY EYES

r

s

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: SEPTEMBER 29, 2018 WHERE: VGH Emergency Admitting - EHS Paramedic VGH Emergency: Admitting area. You were attending EHS Paramedic w patient. You: blonde, petite & solid, great DNA, tattoos. I donated the rice crispy squares to the emerge staff, nurses, first responders like yourself and physicians.

Too many eyes...

RICHMOND SKYTRAIN

s

r

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: SEPTEMBER 29, 2018 WHERE: Richmond SkyTrain You coming back from meet and greet in your uniform. I was on my way to fly to Toronto. You sat next to me and we introduced ourselves. Wish we talked longer. Coffee?

@ TV TOWERS

s

r

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 WHERE: Hamilton and Robson You said goodbye and that it was a shame we didn't get to know each other well. You were moving to a place near‚ "Le Crocodile". Would you like to meet for coffee?

TO THE BEAUTIFUL LADY WITH A PUPPY NAMED BROOKLYN PLEASE STAND UP

r

s

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: SEPTEMBER 1, 2018 WHERE: Waterfront St I was taking pics from angles that were stupid from someone else's perspective. All in all I am seeking to find you again, meet up at 4 am, and talk the morning away again??

I HELD THE SKYTRAIN DOOR FOR YOUR BOYFRIEND

r

®

RBC Mortgage Specialists

s

Professional Trusted

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: SEPTEMBER 29, 2018 WHERE: Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain

Experienced

I saw you tonight (Friday, Septemb er 28 th) at Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain station at about 9pm.

We both got on the Millennium Line, and I held the door open so that your boyfriend would not get left behind. I kept looking over at you because you were (are) so beautiful...

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Which is great since we are both cat people!! You got off at Burquitlam station :-( I would love to see you again...

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Diverse ventures inspire startup guru Vancouver Economics Commission clean-tech-sector development manager talks business INDUSTRY EXPERTS

of loyalty to the downtown space.

I heard a story about a company that was bought here four or five years ago. The organization became absorbed by its parent and had to move to another municipality in the region. Instead of employees moving to that area, they quit and founded another similar company in the same industry, because it was downtown.

They were almost more loyal to the location than the business.

JOHN McPHERSON With more than 39 percent of B.C. residents owning their own company or running a side hustle, British Columbia is the most entrepreneurial province in Canada—and Vancouver is its hub.

Named the top startup ecosystem in Canada and the 15th-best place to start a business in the world, the city is one of the most welcoming places to quit your day job and work on your own terms.

That explosion of innovation makes John McPherson’s role incredibly varied.

As the clean-tech-sector development manager at the Vancouver Economics Commission, McPherson is tasked with managing events, programs, and activities for businesses as they grow from smart idea to billiondollar unicorn. Primarily focused on green technology and how companies can help create smart cities—think self-driving cars, AI-enhanced garbage cans, and solar-powered street lighting—he helps startups connect with investors, navigate city-hall regulations, and guide founders to useful resources.

Pretty helpful when you’re faced with building a business from scratch.

The most exciting part of his job, he says, is helping passionate entrepreneurs find the right path to success, but it’s the diversity of Vancouver companies that inspires him to come into the office every day. With the city boasting some of the wildest startups in Canada—businesses that are replicating the reactions that happen in the sun, for example, or that manufacture the high-definition cameras on the International Space Station—McPherson and the Vancouver Economics Commission are tasked with staying on the cutting edge of innovation.

Making it his personal goal to help companies become anchor businesses like Vancouver staples Hootsuite and Avigilon, McPherson tries to make sure entrepreneurs and their organizations can stay in the city amid rising costs of living.

BEST VANCOUVER STARTUP PEOPLE HAVEN’T HEARD OF

There’s a lot to choose from. One is A & K Robotics. They’re developing an intelligent navigation system, which is the brains of how to make a machine self-driving. They’re starting with industrial cleaning machines and making them autonomous—so I guess you could think of it as an industrial

BEST NEW TREND IN THE VANCOUVER STARTUP ECOSYSTEM

There’s a lot more support now for coworking buildings. WeWork and Spaces are creating communities and enabling a more collegial climate and atmosphere between startups. The Hive is another example in Gastown. These are great for really bringing businesses together and John McPherson, who specializes in helping passionate entrepreneurs find the right path to success, says that the best industries in which working together collaboratively. to create a startup in Vancouver include virtual reality, clean tech, cannabis-technology solutions, and blockchain. Ingrid Valou photo.

That’s a trend we’re seeing right now, around coworking and teleRoomba for places like airports. like Spring, which provides mentor- competition that helps companies go commuting.

Another is called Virtro Entertain- ship, training, guidance, and advice on through the steps of developing their ment. It had to make our list because fundraising. Launch Academy is an- business plans, and there’s a prize at BEST THING ABOUT it’s so interesting. It’s a virtual- and aug- other accelerator and creative destruc- the end with a big event.

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BEST OF VANCOUVER

Author keeps finding new hiking trails INDUSTRY EXPERTS

BEST HIKE TO GO ON WITH THE ENTIRE FAMILY Lynn Headwaters Regional Park North Vancouver

STEPHEN HUI Born and raised in Vancouver, local hiking guru Stephen Hui was exposed to the breathtaking beauty of B.C.’s great outdoors at an early age. The author and photographer of the bestselling guidebook 105 Hikes In and Around Southwestern British Columbia and former Straight staffer doesn’t think he’ll ever get tired of the hikes in our province.

“I’ve been hiking for 25 years, and I grew up in Vancouver so I started out hiking as a youngster in Scouts.

It’s what got me into camping,” Hui explained to the Straight in a phone interview. “In high school and university, I got involved with outdoor clubs, and that’s what really introduced me into backpacking.”

Hui generally goes on a hike every other weekend, sometimes with his six-year-old son in tow. From short nature walks to longer day hikes to overnight trips, he’s constantly roaming through different terrain.

It’s hard for the hiking expert to pick his favourite trek, but the most memorable hiking experience in his book (figuratively and literally) is the Sunshine Coast Trail. “[It] was the longest hike I’ve ever done, [and] it was an amazing backpacking trip,” said Hui. “It kind of tests your limits just being alone in the woods for so long. It also has beautiful scenery and you meet amazing people.”

There are many countries around the globe that offer great hikes, but B.C. hikes have a special place in the local author’s heart. “First of all, you never run out of hikes to do. There are just hikes around every corner,” said Hui. “I keep on finding out about more hikes. There’s so much to do and it’s never boring.” He enjoys exploring the province’s waterfalland wildf lower-meadow–filled trails so much that he’s already started to work on a second hiking guidebook, which will also focus on southwestern B.C. He can’t spill too many details on his upcoming book for now, but here are some of his insights and tips for those who also love a good outdoor trek in B.C. BEST THING ABOUT WRITING A BEST-SELLING HIKING GUIDEBOOK

Going on all the hikes, plus having the excuse to learn tons about the history, ecology, and geomorphology of the region.

Anything in Lynn Headwaters Regional Park in North Vancouver.

My son loves the hike along Lynn Creek, hearing the sound of the water and looking for big trees. He likes to call them grandpa trees.

BEST FOODS TO BRING WITH YOU ON A MULTIDAY HIKE

Any freeze-dried meals containing tortilla chips. There’s something about eating salty, soggy chips at the end of a long day of hiking. There are a few items [at MEC] that have chips in them, which is kind of weird when you add water to them.

BEST ESSENTIALS TO BRING ON A HIKE

Aside from the 10 essentials, plenty of snacks and the right hiking partner.

Stephen Hui’s recent best-selling guidebook offered insights into 105 hikes in the rgion, but he says he’s just getting warmed up. That’s because in this part of the world, he’s discovered that there’s an endless number of wilderness areas to discover, which means he’s never bored.

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It’s so hard to pick, but the most memorable hike was the Sunshine Coast Trail.

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People always get mad when you talk about these ones, but that’s okay.

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If you’re lucky enough to be at a hot spring, it would be soaking in that.

Otherwise, it would be devouring an ice-cream cone. That’s actually how I get my son to finish hikes. The other thing that’s amazing is to have a whole watermelon sitting in your car that you can slice into when you come back down from the hike.

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f there’s one thing people tend to take for granted, it’s their health.

Yet just like our mothers told us, it doesn’t matter how much money you have in the bank (or how many Instagram followers you have) if you aren’t physically and mentally well.

Here, some of Vancouver’s leading experts in the health, wellness, and fitness fields weigh in on trends that have staying power and are helping people stay healthy.

everything on Earth is connected, from the forest to the sea. The same can be said of the human body: right down to every last cell, everything is interdependent. When there’s a problem in one of the body’s systems, whether it’s immune or digestive, other systems are affected. “This allows us to identify the underlying causes and risk [of disease] instead of chasing symptoms,” says Acubalance Wellness Centre founder Lorne Brown, doctor of traditional Chinese medicine and clinical hypnotherapist.

“It also provides a more individualized approach to diet, supplements, and drugs.”

CONSCIOUS HEALING

“This involves hijacking the mind to heal the body,” Brown says, pointing to meditation, hypnosis, “PSYCH-K” (a process that’s said to change subconscious, self-limiting beliefs), and other relaxation techniques. “Science is now able to demystify the mysticism and explain how meditation and other mind-body practices can lead to spontaneous healing and longevity.”

PAIRING NOOTROPICS AND ADAPTOGENS

Nootropics are chemicals that provide the brain with cognitive benefits.

Some are naturally occurring (such

of pharmaceutical nootropics in Silicon Valley, but of course nootropic is coined for a substance with no side effects. Nootropics are compounds that enhance human cognition, including memory, learning, focus, and mood, and are supposed to be with no side effects.

“Pairing nootropics with adaptogens will nourish your mind, heighten your cognition, and maintain physiological stability in circumstances of change, whether predictable or unpredictable, through adaptation,” she says. “This is the future.”

BODY-WEIGHT TRAINING

This form of exercise simply involves using your own body weight for various exercises rather than tools like free weights, resistance bands, or Swiss balls. “BWT is easy to do anywhere, with no equipment required,” says Maureen Wilson, founder of Sweat Co., which has been running downtown for more than three decades. “As we always say to our clients, there’s never an excuse for missing workouts while travelling away from home.”

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Naturopathic physician Pushpa Chandra, who recently completed seven marathons in seven days, says herbs like ginseng are natural alternatives to certain pharmaceuticals.

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BEST OF VANCOUVER

Pastry chef says mental prep is crucial INDUSTRY EXPERTS

that always left an impression with me.

Everything she does is so delicate and everything tastes good on her menu.

She has a Japanese palate, so it’s never too sweet and always very light.

AMANDA CHENG Amanda Cheng is the Ming to the Mak at Kitsilano’s well-loved dining spot Mak N Ming (1629 Yew Street).

Although the restaurant may bear her Chinese name, she doesn’t actually create any traditional Chinese desserts.

Trained at New York’s Culinary Institute of America, Cheng has worked at Park Avenue in New York, Fraiche in West Vancouver, and Riquiqui in Hong Kong. Her obsession with pastries began a long time ago, induced by Martha Stewart television segments and a deep love for eating sweets.

“I like baking more traditional stuff, just anything that’s comforting and stuff that people have grown up with,” Cheng told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview. “Stuff that is timeless and classic, and mostly French.”

She devotes most of her time in her dining establishment’s tiny kitchen to creating crowd-favourite desserts that are in sync with the French and Japanese flavours on chef Makoto Ono’s tasting menus. She’s one of the most talented pastry chefs in Vancouver. Here, she dishes on her favourite pastry shop in the city and her go-to treat, among other sweet things.

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like to eat. I don’t follow what’s trendy.

I know some pastry chefs will try new techniques and new ingredients, but at the end of the day I think it’s important to make stuff that people like to eat. With experience, you can just imagine how things taste. A lot of it is just mental preparation.

WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT CREATING PASTRIES AT MAK N MING?

I like to experiment with some Asian flavours because of Makoto [Ono]. We have tapioca pudding right now, and people love it. People also really like our sake-kasu parfait. Sometimes a lot of our regulars forget what they’ve eaten.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN They’re not very high-maintenance, and MAKING PASTRIES? I’ve been making pastries for 10 years. everyone is just really happy to be here.

I don’t want to say exactly, because then people will do the math and figure WHAT’S THE BEST DESSERT out I’m a lot older than I look.

YOU’VE EVER HAD? There’s so many. At Spago in Los Angeles, there’s this really good WHAT’S THE CREATIVE PROCESS strawberry pancake thing [Austrian LIKE FOR COMING UP WITH NEW Kaiserschmarrn]. It’s really simple, DESSERTS? The main thing I try to think about like a souff lé with strawberry sauce. is what people like to eat and what I In New York, I worked for this pastry

chef and all his desserts were really good. It’s hard to choose.

YOUR FAVOURITE PASTRY SHOP IN THE CITY?

Thomas Haas is always good. I think he’s one of the first ones [in the city] that’s really elevated, and he does both pastries and chocolates. I always get the double-baked almond croissant.

WHAT WOULD YOU CONSIDER YOUR SIGNATURE CREATION?

For a while, a lot of people knew me for making pavlova because I used to make a lot of pavlova. I don’t like the oven here as much, so I don’t make it as much here. For a long time I didn’t eat it because I thought it was just sugar and egg white and just really sweet. But then I had a proper pavlova, and I thought, “Wow, pavlova can be good.”

WHICH PASTRY CHEF WOULD YOU LOVE TO COLLABORATE WITH THE MOST?

Chika Tillman of ChikaLicious Dessert Bar, based in New York. I think it was the first dessert bar I went to, and

Any ice cream. I’m lactose-intolerant, but I eat all ice creams. I like any flavour with nuts because nuts are always good.

by Tammy Kwan

FOOD & DRINK

GROCERY STORE

Mak N Ming’s Amanda Cheng likes the double-baked almond croissants made by Thomas Haas.

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SPECIALTY GROCERY STORE

1. Urban Fare Various locations 2. Choices Markets Various locations 3. Meinhardt Various locations

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1. Kin’s Farm Market Various locations 2. Whole Foods Market Various locations 3. Donald’s Market Various locations

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1. Ready Maid Meals A6–5269 Still Creek Avenue, Burnaby 2. Whole Foods Market Various locations 3. Urban Fare Various locations

BREAD BAKERY

1. Terra Breads Various locations 2. Breka Bakery & Cafe Various locations 3. purebread Various locations

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1. Café Medina 780 Richards Street 2. Yolk’s Restaurant & Commissary Various locations 3. Chambar Restaurant 568 Beatty Street

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1. The Naam Restaurant 2724 West 4th Avenue 2. MeeT Various locations 3. The Acorn 3995 Main Street

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BAUHAUS RESTAURANT Award-winning contemporary German cuisine that delicately balances innovative techniques, fresh flavours and the best in local ingredients

Chefs Tim Schulte David Mueller

Menu Contemporary German

Atmosphere Upscale Urban

photo credits: Jessica Godfrey, Sofia Kuan. painting: “Art” -Corey Bulpitt/Fazakas Gallery

e are thrilled to be awarded “Best of Vancouver - Most Romantic Restaurant” by Georgia Straight readers.

Bauhaus Restaurant was inspired by the early 20th-century design movement “Bauhaus” translated to “construction house” which was famous for its unique approach to architecture and design where every form has a function. Using these principles for each dish on the menu, the chefs at Bauhaus source only the best quality ingredients, staying true to their form and matching them with fl avours that all have a function on the plate.

My passion has always been food and wine. Every summer I spend ten weeks in Europe and eat my way thru various Michelin Star restaurants and come back with a lot of inspiration. Executive Chefs David Mueller and Tim Schulte also use their free time to travel and try new restaurants. My vision for Bauhaus has always been that we never stand still but move forward, always perfecting our craft.

Many people come to me and ask - “What is Bauhaus Restaurant.? What is German cuisine exactly?”. - Well at Bauhaus we have two menus that represent German cuisine today - our Chefs Tasting Menu and German Classic Menu. For our chef tasting menu, I start by saying, fi rst, throw out your idea of Germany food in Canada. Your previous German food experience most likely was Bavarianstyle sausages. Germany now has more three-star Michelin restaurants than any other European country except France. Over the years German cuisine has evolved.

Imagine German craftsmanship, think Mercedes Benz, BMW, and Porsche, luxury, high-end, extreme attention to every detail. Apply those principles to cooking where chefs apprentice for years. Th ink of how close Germany is to Italy, France, Austria, Spain and imagine taking flavour influences from all these rich culinary countries and creating dishes genuinely unique. The philosophy of the contemporary German cuisine is to utilize only the best ingredients and celebrating them at the core of your dish and delicately balancing each flavour on your plate.

Bauhaus has had the honour of being highly-acclaimed internationally recently it was listed as a restaurant to watch by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ Diner’s Discovery Series. The list is considered the ‘next generation of dining destinations.’ Th is past year Bauhaus was listed as one of the best German bars and restaurants around the world by CNN, and as part of the new global face of German cuisine

by Wine Enthusiast.

- Proprietor Uwe Boll

1 W E S T C O R D O VA S T R E E T / 6 0 4 9 74 114 7 • B A U H A U S - R E S TA U R A N T. C O M

FRIDAY LUNCH AND DINNER 7 DAYS A WEEK 68 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

BEST OF VANCOUVER

Restaurant industry faves muse on future trends

W

by Gail Johnson

hether it’s fine-casual dining, vegan burgers, or diners Instagramming everything, certain food and restaurant trends are here to stay.

As we celebrate the Best of Vancouver, we asked a few of our favourite chefs and restaurateurs about what current crazes they think really deserve to last.

“I want to live by a waste-never philosophy when it comes to my food,” says Ned Bell, whose résumé just keeps getting longer; the Ocean Wise ambassador is the newly named culinary director of the Vancouver Club and will be competing on the forthcoming Iron Chef Canada. “Everything is usable.

We’re so used to beauty and perfection that we forget ugly can be delicious too.

“Make carrot-top pesto. Use the beet greens. Use the oil in the jar of sun-dried tomatoes to flavour a dish,” he says. “It’s really about looking at everything in your fridge as potentially something tasty. Banana bread was born out of overripe bananas.”

He’s also a fan of adopting alternative sources of protein. Beef is one of the best sources, but with greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption, its production has an extremely negative impact on the environment.

Legumes and certain nuts and seeds are high in the vital nutrient, but insects like crickets are becoming more commonly accepted sources in the western world.

“We need alternative, sustainable, ethical sources of protein,” Bell says.

Sandy Chen, sous-chef at Torafuku and Le Tigre, favours choosing local ingredients from nearby farmers, makers, producers, and growers. It’s nothing new, but it’s a movement that continues to grow.

“Support the local farmers and businesses,” Chen says. “Nowadays, more chefs will go to farmers markets to pick up their ingredients and to connect with the suppliers. At the same time, we’re educating ourselves and our staff about when exactly seasonal ingredients start and end.”

Top chefs also like using single ingredients in multiple creative ways and serving them together. You’ve probably seen something like this on menus: “beets three ways” or “coconut five ways”.

It’s an increasingly popular approach that requires thinking beyond the standard uses of a particular food to showcase its versatility as well as a chef’s creativity and to keep things exciting. Take pumpkin as an example.

There’s a good chance pumpkin pie was

BEST

Paul Grunberg of Caffe La Tana sees eateries moving toward a cafeteria-style model.

the first thing to come to mind for what to do with it.

“At Torafuku, we made our version of a pumpkin spice latte using mascarpone vanilla Mont Blanc, pumpkin glaze, maple coffee sablé, pumpkin and cinnamon mousse—cooking pumpkin with different methods,” Chen says.

“When all the components are eaten together, it tastes just like a pumpkin spice latte. Cook the food in many different ways, plate it on the same plate, and let the ingredient do the magic.”

Also embrace counter service.

You’ve seen the success of places like Tractor and Field and Social: you order your food at a counter but it’s delivered to you by staff who are also happy to clear dishes and refill water glasses.

It’s a style that the team behind Savio Volpe and Pepino’s is adopting right next door to the latter at its forthcoming Caffe La Tana, which is expected to open on October 9. The Roman-style café will have all sorts of sandwiches, pastas, pastries, coffee, and more, as well as a retail/grocery section.

“What’s trending are cafeteria-style restaurants, where people are going to go to the counter to order, then sit down and be served,” says co-owner Paul Grunberg. “With the debilitating Canadian labour-market shortage, there’s going to be more of this—cafeteria-style restaurants where the quality and execution are not sacrificed but that’s not as formalized an experience as sitting down and having someone come and offer you still or sparkling water, and hopefully that will be reflected in the price point.”

FOOD & DRINK

FINE-DINING RESTAURANT

NEW RESTAURANT

1. Hawksworth Restaurant 801 West Georgia Street 2. Mott 32 1161 West Georgia Street 3. Blue Water Cafe 1095 Hamilton Street

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RESTAURANT GROUP

1. White Spot Various locations 2. Denny’s Various locations 3. McDonald’s Various locations

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1. Chambar Restaurant 568 Beatty Street 2. St. Lawrence Restaurant 269 Powell Street 3. Ask for Luigi 305 Alexander Street

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1. Bauhaus Restaurant 1 West Cordova Street 2. Chambar Restaurant 568 Beatty Street 3. Hawksworth Restaurant 801 West Georgia Street

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VISIT BEST OF VANCOUVER ONLINE AT STRAIGHT.COM OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 69

BEST OF VANCOUVER

Aburi sushi takes centre stage Seigo Nakamura transformed a Japanese side dish into a local obsession

S

by Tammy Kwan

eigo Nakamura took over his father’s food and beverage business in southern Japan when he was only 22 years old. He became in charge of a very small sushi restaurant that was on the brink of bankruptcy. A couple decades later, he’s turned it into a successful gourmet rotating-sushi chain, SushiTora, that is constantly expanding. For Vancouverites, his name won’t ring a bell, but you’ll definitely recognize his restaurant ventures here: Miku (70–200 Granville Street) and Minami (1118 Mainland Street).

Aside from being the head of Tora Corporations Inc. in Japan, Nakamura is also the mastermind behind Aburi Restaurants Canada, which oversees the well-loved Coal Harbour and Yaletown dining establishments. He’s responsible for introducing Vancouver to aburi (flame-seared) pressed sushi,

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which can easily be identified by its you back $17, but that hasn’t stopped perfectly seasoned rice, and thin slice diners from feverishly indulging in it. of fresh seafood (salmon is the most This cult-favourite menu item was popular) topped with secret signature first put on our city’s radar in 2008, sauces. An order of six pieces will set see page 72

FOOD & DRINK

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The flame-seared pressed sushi known as aburi can easily be identified by its perfectly seasoned rice and thin slice of fresh seafood topped with signature secret sauces.

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1. Skip the Dishes 2. Door Dash 3. Foodora

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1. Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt Various locations 2. On Yogurt 95 Smithe Street 3. Yogen Früz Various locations

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1. La Casa Gelato 1033 Venables Street 2. Bella Gelateria 1001 West Cordova Street 3. Mario’s Gelati 88 East 1st Avenue

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from page 70 when Nakamura opened Miku. How did this type of melt-in-your-mouth sushi become a full-time obsession around town in just a few short years?

“Aburi-style sushi was never a signature item in Japan. It was always a side item,” Nakamura told the Georgia Straight in an interview at his waterfront restaurant. “It’s just a simple combination of fresh sushi and rice, so I thought about how to take it further than just the traditional combo.”

He took into account that not everyone has an adventurous palate, which meant that many traditional Japanese culinary creations would have a hard time winning the hearts of those who grew up eating mac and cheese, burgers, and pasta. He imagined an aburi concept that would combine the best of Japanese and Canadian flavours, focusing on bringing something new but mouthwatering to local palates. Going through trials and errors with his kitchen team resulted in a best-selling item that’s repeatedly mimicked by other eateries.

“It took a long time for me to come up with our style of aburi sushi,” explained Nakamura. “One thing that our company always thought about was how to bring traditional sushi to Vancouver that can be accepted. Our kind of aburi sushi can be loved by all kinds of people in the world, and I can see it expanding beyond Vancouver and Canada.”

Even though the public would probably be content with just salmon and ebi (shrimp) aburi sushi, the restaurateur believes that flame-seared sushi has plenty of room for growth. For him, it’s not just about satisfying appetites with a few items that never rotate off the menu.

Nakamura wants to be the leader in aburi cuisine and consistently serve up innovative and delicious aburi dishes.

Last year, Miku launched aburi prime.

Essentially, it’s an omakase (chef’s selection) creation that features premium flame-seared nigiri that can include everything from otoro (pink fatty tuna) to Hokkaido hotate (Japanese scallop) to A5 Japanese wagyu (Japanese beef).

“When I try to introduce something, I think about creating something that already exists into something totally different in the city,” said Nakamura.

“I always think about global flavours, but I always want to respect the local tastes and palates.”

It’s been a decade since aburi sushi made waves around town, and it

Seigo Nakamura introduced Vancouver diners to aburi sushi. Tammy Kwan photo.

doesn’t appear to be slowing down.

Countless other sushi restaurants in Metro Vancouver also offer a variation on this popular concept on its menus, but none can really compare to the ones that are constantly being made at Miku and Minami.

One would think that a sushi proprietor would feel enormous pressure from competitors trying to copy his original product, but it doesn’t bother Nakamura in the slightest.

“I haven’t really thought about my competition. I focus on what we can do here. If we think about others, we may get lost in that conversation,” said Naka mura. “We always try to be consistent with our flavours and products.

A great restaurant gets a lot of good feedback from customers, [and] having good trust and relationships with customers is also important.”

He’s got a lot on his plate (figuratively and literally) the next few months, because he’s preparing to launch new restaurant concepts in Toronto and Japan. After that, he’s setting his sights on expanding his aburi empire to Asia, and then to the rest of the world. To top it all off, he’s also writing an autobiography-meets-culinary book on aburi cuisine and how he worked his way up to become the owner of two prosperous food and beverage corporations on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean.

If you’ve never tried aburi sushi, you’re seriously missing out.

“You might have certain expectations when it comes to what you think sushi will taste like, but our aburi combines everything you love about sushi as well as Canadian cuisine,” added Nakamura. “Come and try it, you’ll be surprised.”

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BEST OF VANCOUVER

Saku a runaway hit with its popular pork cutlets

by Craig Takeuchi

Cheese tonkatsu benefits from the use of panko (Japanese breadcrumbs). Designed to be less oil-absorbent, panko also helps bring out added crispness and colour to traditional dishes.

A

s the saying goes, the bestlaid plans often go astray.

But would it seem counterintuitive if you didn’t want your restaurant to become an instant success?

When the owners of Saku had their soft opening on June 19, they had hoped to take things slow. General manager David Lim of LLH Eatery Inc. told the Georgia Straight at their West End premises that they didn’t do any publicity or advertising, in order to allow their staff some time to ease into things. But within a short period of time, they were serving full houses.

Word spread by mouth and social media. Diners began queuing up outside. The owners had a runaway hit on their hands.

Although LLH Eatery runs other local restaurants—such as Asian taco shop Tako and Taishoken Ramen

BEST

(both on the edge of Chinatown)—Lim said their popularity took them by surprise. Mind you, the spot was primed for such a place, as the area is populated by several eateries serving Asian fried and comfort food. Of course, it’s also difficult to remain low-key when the stylish appearance piques the curiosity of passersby—especially during the busiest season in the West End for events, beachgoers, and visitors.

The room, which seats 20 (with 10 more on the patio), features minimalist design by Rane Interiors, with lighting by designer Matthew McCormick. The nuanced retro décor, with touches of Japanese design influences, maintains a muted colour palette but sustains enough visual interest to remain compelling. Lim explained that they wanted to create a setting accessible and appealing to local diners within which see next page

FOOD & DRINK

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1. Granville Island Brewing 1441 Cartwright Street, Granville Island 2. Brewhall 97 East 2nd Avenue 3. Steamworks Brewing Co. 375 Water Street

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1. Red Truck Beer Company 295 East 1st Avenue 2. Granville Island Brewing 1441 Cartwright Street, Granville Island 3. Brassneck Brewery 2148 Main Street

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BEST OF VANCOUVER

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BEST FOOD TRUCK Saku, which seats 20 inside with more space on its patio, features minimalist design and a muted colour pattern for a decidedly retro feel.

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from previous page to present the popular Japanese dish tonkatsu, or deep-fried breaded pork cutlets. Lim and the co-owners share a love for the yoshoku-style (or Japanese takes on western food) meal and travelled across Japan visiting restaurants that specialize in it.

In the past, Japanese restaurants in Vancouver have typically offered a broad range of dishes on their menu, from tempura to teriyaki. As Vancouverites became more familiar with Japanese cuisine, establishments also began to focus on specific types of cuisine or food, such as sushi, izakayas, or ramen. With Saku, the owners wanted to zero in on one specific type of dish, as many eateries do in Japan.

The menu, designed by chef Yusuke Matsumoto from Osaka, offers six variations on katsu sets ($15.50 to $18), all made with Canadian pork.

Two main choices are rosu (pork loin) and hire (pork fillet) katsu. For something a bit different from those two options, katsu nabe features pork loin mixed with egg, onion, and mushroom, with soup base and housemade sauce. Their sauce is made with seven vegetables and fruits, and white sesame (which offers a lighter flavour than black sesame). Meanwhile, the curry for their curry katsu is made in-house with a blend of 14 vegetables and fruits.

A selection added to the menu after the grand opening (which was on July 23) is cheese katsu: deep-fried breaded and aged mozzarella wrapped around thinly sliced pork loin. Vegetarians can opt for veggie katsu, with tofu replacing

the pork and accompanied by seasonal vegetables.

The secret is in the panko (Japanese-style bread crumbs). Lim explains that they make their own panko at a local bakery, from their own recipe. It’s designed to be less oil-absorbent to bring out texture, crispiness, colour, and appearance.

The menu does go beyond katsu for those who may want something else.

Lim says they chose to offer udon because they felt it paired well with tonkatsu and also provided an alternative to ramen (of which there’s no shortage in their neighbourhood). However, rather than using the usual thick noodles, Saku offers thinner ones. Udon options (from $10.50 to $11) include kake (hot) and bukkake (cold), as well as curry. There are also side orders available ($3.50 to $8), such as deepfried scallops or jumbo prawns, deepfried soft tofu, seasonal vegetables, and extra servings of tonkatsu.

In winter, Lim says they will add more seasonal dishes and are considering a cream tonkatsu as well as using kurobuta (Berkshire) pork.

As they also want to emphasize customer service, Lim says they have a somewhat slower turnover so they can cater to diners with care. That includes offering unlimited refills (based on the format of Japanese tonkatsu restaurants) of rice, tonjiru (soup with pork and miso), and shredded cabbage for all katsu sets.

Consequently, if you plan to go, remember to factor in some wait time.

For, as goes without saying, good things come to those who wait.

Photo by Steph Yu

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76 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

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BEST OF VANCOUVER

Think you

Savour a dozen hot new wines for the fall season

know BBQ?

This week, we’re zeroing in on excellent choices from European countries, Australia, and the United States

by Kurtis Kolt

You don’t know

voted Vancouver’s #1 Central Texas BBQ smokehouse.

I

From left, Bodegas Aroa “Le Naturel” 2017, D’Arenberg “The Stump Jump” Shiraz 2014, Orin Swift Abstract 2016, and Fabulous Ant Pinot Noir 2015 are on this season’s must-taste list.

smoked brisket, ribs, links & more.

’ve been spending plenty of time— by attending winetastings and catching up with local importers as much as possible—considering the best wines Vancouverites can put in their glasses in this home stretch of 2018. (I know, I know—it’s a living!)

This week, I’ve assembled a virtual case of wine for Straight readers, full of bottles that should suit your season well.

Reservations recommended.

(Vegetarians, not so much...)

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FABULOUS ANT PINOT NOIR 2015 (Tolna, Hungary; $12.49 B.C. Liquor Stores)

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and cheerful; this wine really punches above its weight class.

CASA CONTINI VERSO ROSSO SALENTO 2017 (Puglia, Italy; $18.99, B.C. Liquor Stores)

From bush vines grown in mixed clay soils in the heel of Italy comes this chewy blend of Negroamaro, Primitivo, and Malvasia Nera loaded with dark currants, black licorice, blueberries, and baking spices. A small percentage of the fruit that went into this went through the appassimento process, where dried grapes are added to the ferment, which brings lovely richness and depth.

Yup, it’s a Pinot Noir from Hungary, and it’s fantastic! Put a bit of a chill on the handsome little number and revel in its breezy, bright red berry fruit, fresh thyme, and perfumed edges. Definitely a buy-it-by-the-case bargain.

D’ARENBERG “THE STUMP JUMP” CUVÉE JEAN-PAUL GASCOGNE BLANC SEC 2016 (Côtes de Gascogne, France; $14 to $18, private wine stores)

A crisp white wine for crisp autumn days. This cheery blend of Colombard and Ugni Blanc is teeming with lime, basil, and a little sprig of mint on the finish. A perfect accompaniment to any piping-hot, creamy pastas.

CUVÉE JEAN-PAUL VAUCLUSE ROUGE 2016 (Côtes de Gascogne, France; $14 to $18, private wine stores)

SHIRAZ 2014 (McLaren Vale, Australia; $18 to $22, private wine stores)

I love that the current vintage of this wine in our market is 2014. That extra bit of age brings a nice savoury, meaty character to the black berry fruit, white pepper, and rosemary notes that sail across the palate with ease.

NIEPOORT DIÁLOGO 2015 (Douro, Portugal; $21.99, B.C. Liquor Stores)

You don’t have to know the particulars of the Touriga Franca, TouGrenache and Syrah, strawberries and riga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, and Tinta plums, tarragon and pepper, cheap see page 80

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B.C. WINERY (WHITE)

1. JoieFarm Winery 2825 Naramata Road, Naramata 2. Mission Hill Family Estate 1730 Mission Hill Road, West Kelowna 3. Burrowing Owl Estate Winery 500 Burrowing Owl Place, Oliver

SPORTS BAR

1. Shark Club Various locations 2. Red Card Sports Bar + Eatery 560 Smithe Street 3. The Pint Public House 455 Abbott Street

HOTEL BAR/LOUNGE

1. Lobby Lounge at the Fairmont Pacific Rim 1038 Canada Place 2. Reflections: The Garden Terrace at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia 801 West Georgia Street 3. Opus Bar 322 Davie Street 78 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

PLACE FOR COCKTAILS 1. Pourhouse 162 Water Street 2. The Shameful Tiki Room 4362 Main Street 3. The Keefer Bar 135 Keefer Street

PRIVATE WINE STORE

1. Everything Wine Various locations 2. Legacy Liquor Store 1633 Manitoba Street 3. Liberty Wine Merchants Various locations

RESTAURANT WINE LIST 1. Mott 32 1161 West Georgia Street 2. Hawksworth Restaurant 801 West Georgia Street 3. Chambar Restaurant 568 Beatty Street

WINE BAR

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from page 78 Amarela grapes that are combined to make this rustic red blend. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy all those blackberries, mulberries, cocoa, and balsamic notes while detecting some charming fresh violets strewn across the palate from start to finish. Oh, and if you know how to grill a steak well, that’ll probably come in handy, too.

BODEGAS AROA “LE NATUREL” 2017 (Navarra, Spain; $22 to $26, private wine stores)

still deliver balance and complexity, look no further. Grenache, Petite Sirah, Syrah, and a hearty lashing of French oak bring the delicious in a big way, making it obvious why this wine has such a notable cult following. Gobs of purple fruit and a pile of gingerbread are just the beginning.

JEAN-MARC BROCARD PREMIER CRU MONTMAINS 2016 (Chablis, France; $47.99, B.C. Liquor Stores)

This pitch-perfect Chardonnay offers tangy citrus, Granny Smith apple, and a good dose of juicy acid and salinity, Ticking all the “natural wine” boxes along with a nice crack of mineral charof being vegan, organic, unfined, and acter. Fresh, lively, and so damn bright. unfiltered, without any added sulphur, It’s oyster season. You know what to do. this Grenache-dominated red wine is jam-packed with black and purple berry fruit along with a splash of fruity espresso.

LUNGAROTTI RUBESCO ROSSO DI TORGIANO 2014 (Umbria, Italy; $25.99, B.C. Liquor Stores)

A mix of sand, clay, and limestone provides good footing for this Sangiovese that gives Chianti a good run for its money. There’s a warmth and generosity to this wine, cradled in toasty oak for a year, reminiscent of a plum galette dusted with fresh herbs.

PENNER-ASH WILLAMETTE VALLEY PINOT NOIR 2015 (Oregon, USA; $42 to $46, private wine stores)

Although this Oregon Pinot sits around the mid-$40 mark, if I were blind-tasting I’d venture it much pricier. Brambly forest-floor notes lift a host of pretty raspberries and blackberries to lofty heights, where they meet cardamom, bergamot, and nutmeg. Silky ,with well-integrated tannins, even at this fairly young age it’s really hitting its stride.

This week, I’ve assembled a virtual case of wine for Straight readers.

– Kurtis Kolt

G. D. VAJRA BAROLO BRICCO DELLE VIOLE 2014 (Piedmont, Italy; $95.99, B.C. Liquor Stores)

The family behind this wine are some of the nicest people I’ve met in the industry. They collaborate in their scenic vineyards and winery to create showstoppers like this ode to the region, bringing us everything we’re looking for in classic Barolo (tar and roses! dried herbs! fresh ORIN SWIFT ABSTRACT 2016 (California, USA; $45.99, B.C. Liquor cocoa!), with elegance and grace.

The vineyard this wine comes from Stores) When you want a wine with heft is tiny, less than five hectares. This that’ll stain your teeth at first sip but wine will take you there.

80 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

arts

A Vancouver Guldasta, by playwright Paneet Singh, explores the effects of the 1984 invasion of India’s Sikh Golden Temple on a local Punjabi-Canadian family. Rohit Chokhani says works like this show “the diversity within the diversity”.

Diwali amplifies South Asian voices Partnering locally with the Cultch, Rohit Chokhani reaches out to wider audiences

O

by Janet Smith

ne way to describe Rohit Chokhani’s approach to curation at Diwali in B.C. is, as he calls it, “finding the diversity within the diversity”.

While putting together this year’s festival, the artistic director has found performances that cover vastly different South Asian experiences. There’s a U.K. play about online extremism, an intimate play about a Vancouver Punjabi family dealing with tragedy in their homeland, and a classical-Indian-dance rendition of a Bengali myth.

But Chokhani’s work is also about a kind of cultural diplomacy—a honed mix of collaboration, networking, and communication. And that’s no big surprise, considering this is the producer and theatre artist who won the Vancouver NOW Representation and Inclusion Award at July’s Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards.

Not only is this fast-emerging local arts leader working with such groups as SACHA (the South Asian Canadian Histories Association) and the Vancouver Tagore Society on this year’s Diwali shows, his provincewide fest is copresenting the Vancouver productions with the Cultch. All will be staged at its Vancity Culture Lab and York Theatre, and he’s worked closely with executive director Heather Redfern on programming.

“I always believed that although Diwali has roots in India, we’re doing it in B.C.,” Chokhani tells the Straight over the phone. “How do we take that concept and make it welcoming to other cultures?”

For Chokhani, that’s meant not only reaching out to marginalized artists and arts groups within the South Asian community, but also teaming up with a more mainstream theatre to reach a wider audience.

Together, Chokhani and Redfern attended the 2017 debut of local writerdirector Paneet Singh’s A Vancouver Guldasta, set in an actual Vancouver Special. In it, a Punjabi family struggle with the trauma of the 1984 armed invasion of the Sikh Golden Temple in India, while their daughter forms a growing relationship with their young Vietnamese tenant.

“Heather and I went into this small house and we said, ‘We have to do something with this,’ ” relates Chokhani. “It was actually very powerful—we felt like

Diwali in B.C. artistic director Rohit Chokhani (left) has had a direct role in bringing several recent South Asian works to the stage; right, the U.K.’s The Believers Are But Brothers.

I always believed that although Diwali has its roots in India, we’re doing it in B.C. How do we…make it welcoming to other cultures?

– Rohit Chokhani

part of the family, and we felt the story was very Vancouver.” (Diwali in B.C. and the Cultch are now copresenting it with SACHA.) Similarly, Chokhani and his mentor headed to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year and found The Believers Are But Brothers—a one-man play that encourages audience members to wire into WhatsApp as it draws parallels between the online actions of two ISIS recruits in Britain and a white alt-right extremist in the U.S. “It was taking me into a world I didn’t understand at all,” Chokhani says. “Why do certain young men feel powerless around money and power and sex, and what lengths will they go to get it?”

Chokhani looked closer to home to help develop Shyama, working as director for Bengali-Canadian artist Arno Kamolika, who’s interpreting fellow Bengali Rabindranath Tagore’s epic tale through the ancient In-

dian dance form of bharata natyam, working with the Vancouver Tagore Society and Mandala Arts & Culture.

Beyond that, Chokhani has spread Diwali in B.C. events as far as Vernon, Maple Ridge, and Nanaimo. He says that’s one reason he’s named this year’s fest New Horizons; the other is to position the programming as a way to look beyond our divisive world. As he puts it, “How do we look at things in a different way?”

LOOKING AT THINGS in a different

way has been a part of the Mumbaiborn Chokhani’s success in getting diverse voices heard on local stages.

He spent his early adulthood in computer programming, first earning his master’s in the field, then leaving it to delve into the arts after he arrived here in 2010, by way of the U.S. If you feel like you’re seeing more and more compelling South Asian stories

on Vancouver stages, chances are the artist-producer has had his hands on the project.

In 2016, he worked, as part of Diwali Fest, with Touchstone Theatre to present Brothel #9, a searing account of sex slavery in Calcutta that won him a special Jessie award for “outstanding work in expanding the diversification of Vancouver theatre through excellence in festival programming”. Last year, his reimagined version of Anosh Irani’s Bombay Black, about a blind man’s love for a courtesan, blew away Vancouver Fringe Festival audiences and was reprised at the Firehall Arts Centre. In the summer, he cohelmed the Monsoon Festival of Performing Arts, programming strong work like Anita Majumdar’s The Fish Eyes Trilogy. And he’s also created Project SAT, an ongoing initiative to help South Asian artists develop, tour, present, and produce new theatre work across the country, through workshops, mentorship, and other programs. (Redfern has been a key mentor on the project.) And news recently emerged that Chokhani will codirect a 2019 production of Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well at Bard on the Beach—one set in India and spiced with South

Asian music and dance.

It’s a lot to have achieved in a short time here, where a culturally diverse theatre production was once a rarity on the calendar. But Chokhani knows how to build bridges—an art he chalks up not only to his technology background but to living and learning.

“Sometimes my friends will ask me, ‘That master’s program for three years—do you feel all that work went to waste?’ But I think that’s where I get the strategic brain and communication skills: how to communicate with different communities, how to manage high emotional settings,” he says, and then offers: “But also, when I was younger, I made some mistakes.

A lot of these conversations about culture and ethnicity would become more paralyzing. I’m older now, and I see we need to be more collaborative to understand what these systemic barriers are.” And then, strategically dismantle them, one by one.

Diwali in B.C. copresents A Vancouver Guldasta until October 21 at the Cultch’s Vancity Culture Lab; Shyama on October 27 at the York Theatre; and The Believers Are But Brothers from October 30 to November 10 at the Cultch’s Vancity Culture Lab.

Arts TIP SHEET TCHAIKOVSKY & COUNTRYMEN (October 6 at the Orpheum) A lush, sparkling celebration of Russian artistry features two men who know their stuff: maestro Rossen Milov and cello virtuoso Yegor Dyachkov.

EVGENY KISSIN (October 9 at the Chan Centre for Performing Arts) Another Russian treat: the brilliant Moscow-born pianist puts his fingers to Rachmaninoff and Chopin at the Vancouver Recital Society.

DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA (To October 7 at Studio 16) Don’t miss this tightly acted John Patrick Shanley play, with veteran Jay Brazeau directing.

KRAPP’S LAST TAPE (October 5 to 26 at Tyrant Studios) See this Seven Tyrants Theatre gem for

Linden Banks’s performance, or see it for a sneak peek at the new space in the Penthouse Nightclub.

TESTOSTERONE (To October 13 at the York Theatre) U.K. trans man Kit Redstone’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival hit about his first foray into a men’s locker room.

DISCOVER DANCE: COMPANY 605 (October 4 at the Scotiabank Dance Centre) Hit the noonhour showcase to check out one of the most exciting troupes in town.

A CURATOR’S VIEW: IAN THOM SELECTS (To March 17, 2019, at the Vancouver Art Gallery) The VAG’s former senior curator Ian Thom digs out the highlights in a vast collection he helped form.

OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 81

ARTS

Comedy’s Ian Boothby offers his faves

I

by Guy MacPherson

an Boothby’s resume must be 15 pages long. The guy has done everything in and around comedy, on stage, screen, page, you name it.

Best-known now for his comic-book writing, particularly his recently ended 20-year tenure writing the Simpsons Comics, Boothby just got back from the Madrid Comic Con with his comicbook-artist wife, Pia Guerra. Together, they do about four major comic cons a year, and more when they have something to plug.

He’s got a book called Exorsisters coming out in October, has been busy writing Sparks! for the Scholastic series, and is a regular contributor to Mad magazine.

But he’s still got time to perform. He started out at the age of 13 on the CBC kids’ show Switchback. At 16 he was performing standup at Punchlines in Gastown, eventually making his living at it. But after about eight years working the road, he stopped. “It was just awful,” he says now. “You’d perform at all these venues that were absolutely terrible. It just wasn’t for me. It was rough. Not that good for the soul.”

Then he discovered improv with Vancouver TheatreSports League.

“That was just such a more positive experience, so I started doing that more on the regular,” he says.

Along the way, he wrote for TV and film, and was a weekly cartoonist for a local paper. “If you’re Canadian,” he says, “you have to do, like, five things to make a living.”

Five. Ha! With all on his plate, he still hits the stage. He can be seen in The Critical Hit Show, a live, improvised epic fantasy, and he has plans to do more standup when things settle down a bit.

Oh, and did I mention he also does two podcasts?: Sneaky Dragon, at 350

Show. There’s a lot of burlesque stuff as well. It’s this great space that feels like the theatre from The Muppet Show. Obviously, you’re going to see future comedy stars at the $5 venues, and you should see as many of those as you can, but if you want a more comfortable seat, the Rio Theatre is a good place to find people right before they take off.”

you’re doing a show, they have to get rid of the fish at the end of the day so your portions are huge. And it’s a fairly healthy alternative at the end of the night. Plus, they have beer and sake, so you can drink your troubles away if it wasn’t a good show.”

BEST LOCAL PODCAST TO GUEST ON

From comic books to improv to podcasts, Vancouver laugh-getter Ian Boothby has pretty much done it all, making him a good source of insider knowledge when it comes to the local scene.

episodes and counting, and the Marx Bros.–inspired Full Marx, both with cohost David Dedrick.

Here, then, are some of Boothby’s favourite things on the local laugh circuit:

LOCAL STANDUP WHO ALWAYS GIVES ME THE GIGGLES

“Katie-Ellen Humphries. She always delivers something fresh and new and surprising and is just a damn delight to watch. There’s always someone like an Ivan Decker who clearly is going to take off like a rocket, but Katie is very interesting to watch and one of my favourite performers to see. She always adds an extra level to what she’s doing.”

LOCAL IMPROVISER EASIEST TO PLAY WITH

falls in love with and that just makes your job performing with him so much easier. When I started watching improv, that was the case with Colin Mochrie.

Nancy Robertson used to be like that too, so if you were in a scene with her, you could get away with murder.”

LOCAL SHOW THAT GIVES THE BEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK

The Lady Show. “It’s a mix of standup, sketch, topical news segments, and weird monologues. Diana Bang does these crazy monologues that just go off the rails. They’re wonderful. Then you get some traditional standup in there as well. It’s the kind of show that will make people go see more standup and improv and sketch, so it’s a great show for the WHO’S community, as well.”

“Allen Morrison is one of my favourites. I work with him on The Critical Hit Show and he does TheatreSports and he’s one of those guys that floats around and is in every show in town. He’s one of these guys the audience immediately

BEST POSTSHOW SNACKS OR EATERY

Sushi Yama (371 East Broadway). “The nice thing about them is they’re open until midnight every day [except Sundays]. If you go late, which you will if

The ButtPod. “It’s just a nice, casual yak with the best comedian in Canada, Brent Butt. He’s very generous as a host. He’ll let you go on, but he’s always got something to say as well that’ll keep things at a good pace. It’s everything a casual podcast should and could be.”

BEST VANCOUVER REFERENCE TO SNEAK INTO SIMPSONS OR FUTURAMA STORY LINES

“My regular artist James Lloyd would always put local people into the backgrounds, especially in the Futurama comics. Weird, futuristic versions of local punk rockers or local artists.

You’ll see them scattered through the background of New New York. If you see someone that was just this odd character and seemed to have very specific elements, that’s usually a caricature of someone in the local scene. But I’m not 100 percent sure Canada still exists.

Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. I feel it’s all just been incorporated into New New York, because clearly all these Vancouver people are there!”

BEST LOCAL PODCAST TO LISTEN TO

The Big Loop. “You can compare it a bit to Black Mirror or Twilight Zone, but former standup Paul Bae layers it with atmosphere so well. It’s always a creepy treat to listen. Paul’s had really good success with that podcast, and well-deserved. It’s nice to see someone really put an effort into something and have it pay off.”

ONE THING THAT WOULD MAKE THE VANCOUVER COMEDY SCENE EVEN BETTER

BEST REASON TO STAY IN VANCOUVER

“A Second City/UCB–style theatre that mixed sketch and improv, and possibly standup. We have crossover between the standup and improv scenes, but we don’t have one venue that caters to that. I wish we had something along those lines here.”

“It’s a great city to make your mistakes in and get good in before you go somewhere else. And stay healthy in. You can drink nice clean water, have cheap sushi, go for a walk in Stanley Park and do some forest bathing. You can do your stuff here, get really, really good, screw up a lot, and then, when you feel ready, leave. Or at least keep in touch with the rest of the world, because that’s where the work is; there’s not a lot of work proper in Vancouver. This is just really a good practising, rehearsing city.”

BEST VENUE TO UNCOVER FUTURE COMEDY STARS: “The

Rio Theatre (1660 East Broadway).

They have Improv Against Humanity, Paul Anthony’s Talent Time, Gentlemen Hecklers, The Critical Hit

Program 1 Nov 1 2 3 Choreography Medhi Walerski Petite Cérémonie Emily Molnar New Work William Forsythe Enemy in the Figure

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82 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

.COM Immersive Sculpture Exhibition

Now Open Until Dec 15 | 11 - 7 Daily

Don’t just listen to what people say about Curious Imaginings.

Come see it for yourself!

Absolutely amazing!

The art, lighting—all the details blew me away.

- Gia That was the coolest art show I’ve ever seen.

Beyond impressed.

- Sara Freaky. Human. Organic.

Presents the reality of our biology in a raw, and real way! Amazing work!

– Claudia So thought-provoking!

– Richard Passed by a few times.

Glad I stopped in.

Thought provoking!

- Athena

Tickets + Information at www.imcurious.ca Venue Partner

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OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 83

VA N CO U V ER VIEWS

ARTS World-class card master finds trick to staying home In-demand magician Shawn Farquhar creates up-close-and-personal new ways to show tricks

by Guy MacPherson

NEW WORKS

BY J OY P E I R S O N OCTOBER 6TH – OCTOBER 19 (10:30am to 6pm)

- Opening Reception Friday, October 5, 6 to 9pm Artist in attendance each day

1359 Car t w right St. | G ranvill e I sl an d | Van c o u ve r BC.

W W W. J O Y P E I R S O N . C O M

I

A two-time World Champion of Magic, Shawn Farquhar now turns his sights on hometown gigs, including an intimate show at a downtown hotel and a “gourmet cabaret cirque”.

8pm Friday October 19, 2018 Pacific Spirit United Church (formerly Ryerson United Church) 2205 West 45th Avenue at Yew Street Vancouver Chamber Choir | FOCUS! Choir Jon Washburn, conductor Capilano University Singers | Lars Kaario, conductor TWU Chamber Choir | Joel Tranquilla, conductor Pacifica Singers | Fiona Blackburn, conductor Jon Washburn combines the Choir’s professional singers with advanced choral students from Vancouver’s university music departments in the annual FOCUS! event.

Special guest choirs include the Capilano University Singers conducted

by Lars Kaario, the Trinity Western University Chamber Choir conducted by Joel Tranquilla, and Pacifica Singers. Music by Lotti, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Monteverdi, Fauré, Rutter and more!

1.855.985.ARTS (2787) vancouverchamberchoir.com

84 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

n 2017, Shawn Farquhar performed in 51 countries over 235 days. He’s a two-time World Champion of Magic, was the first magician to fool Penn & Teller twice, and has done close-up card tricks on Ellen. But can he get a gig in his hometown? Hell, it’s hard enough for him just to be recognized.

About a week ago, he’s sitting in his car in the Downtown Eastside, reading emails and waiting to do a show at Co-op Radio. He gets a knock on his window. A homeless man is asking for money and offers to show him a card trick. That gets Farquhar’s attention.

The man has no idea who he’s performing for.

He has a finger that doesn’t bend, but manages to get through the trick and Farquhar is so impressed, he gives the guy 10 bucks, then proceeds to give him a brief lesson on a move called the tilt. Impressed, the man asks how he knows it. “I’m kind of a world-famous magician,” Farquhar says. “Right,” the man says, and walks off attempting to do the tilt as he goes.

So it goes for Canadian celebrities.

Farquhar, who lives in Maple Ridge now, has come a long way since his days performing at birthday parties around Vancouver. With an ad in the Georgia Straight reading “That special something for your something special,” Farquhar was earning $30,000 to $40,000 a year in the mid-’80s doing magic for screaming kids.

“If you didn’t have me at your party, you weren’t having a good party, is what it became,” he says over breakfast at a Kits diner. “I would drive into a cul-de-sac and go, ‘Hey, I’ve done every house in this cul-de-sac.’ Soon, it was pretty much the Lower Mainland that was my little oyster.”

At least then he was working his hometown. These days, he’s too in demand on every continent (save Antarctica), and not in demand enough here.

He longs for the chance to put on real shows in B.C. More than that, he’d love not hopping on a plane every week.

And he’s getting his wish with two different offerings, starting with a very intimate affair at the Shangri-La Hotel on Georgia, and a bigger, longer-run show high atop Queen Elizabeth Park.

On October 5 and 6, Farquhar is putting on four shows in a 36-seat theatre at the hotel. He was inspired by a trip to Spain.

“I saw all these little, tiny, tuckedaway theatres of 50 and 80 people,” he says. “Then I went to Germany and there were all these little salons. Every city had one salon of magic someplace.

I went, ‘Why isn’t that a thing here?’

And then I started looking.”

After filling 1,200-seat theatres all over the world, how hard is it to fill

such a small room? Especially when it’s a chance to see a world-class card master up close. (He’ll also use a Rubik’s cube, a handful of coins, and a cellphone in the 75-minute show.)

“I just want to make it so that I learn every single person’s name and they all participate in some way, even if it’s just naming a number or picking a card,” he says. “I want everybody to feel like they actually connected in the show. For 36 people, it’s an experience that you’re not going to get anywhere. This will allow you to see a concert of intimate illusion.”

If it’s successful, Farquhar wants to book next fall and winter off and make it a regular weekend event.

Every city had one salon of magic some place. I went, ‘Why isn’t that a thing here?’

– Shawn Farquhar

And then there’s Bacio Rosso, billed as Canada’s first gourmet cabaret cirque. Farquhar is the magical element of a night that also features jugglers, contortionists, a live band, trapeze artists, singers, and clowns, all under a wooden Belgian spiegeltent built specially for the run.

Farquhar is excited—even more than usual for one of the most positive people in show business.

“Imagine you walk into a restaurant for the evening and realize that something special is happening that night,” he says. “Well, every night is that special night. It’s this live theatre taking place around you. It’s immersive. It’s 360 degrees. My job is to create wonder and I’ll be going in the centre ring, but I’ll also be going table to table freaking you out for an audience of four people.

Even the wait staff come out dancing to put your food down. Everything is this giant production. Three hours of a fivestar meal and international entertainment, all immersed in this wonderful jewel-box theatre.”

The added bonus for him is that he gets to sleep in his own bed for twoand-a-half months.

“I’ll get some stuff done at home!” he says. “That will be really weird, because I usually come home and I’m here for 48 hours. Now I have to do those jobs that I’ve been procrastinating on forever!”

ARTS

Brothers wrestle with Cain and Abel

T

by Janet Smith

he first thing you need to ask about two brothers making a dance-theatre work called Cain and Abel is “Do these guys get along?”

By every indication, famously so.

Local siblings Aryo and Arash Khakpour have been working together for six years, pushing the bounds of performance in physically extreme ways.

But the duo behind the Biting School company admit there can be tension, especially in their creative process.

“It’s interesting, because we kind of wrestle with each other to talk about work and share with each other—and it’s the same thing on-stage,” Arash offers, talking with his brother over speakerphone on a rehearsal break at an East Side dance studio. “Seeing us on-stage is a good depiction of what our relationship is.”

“But being brothers, definitely, yes, makes communication better,” Aryo interjects. “Part of that is being close collaborators.”

Each of the brothers brings something different to the mix. But to understand that, you first have to rewind a bit. For the older Aryo, who spent more of his life in Iran, seeing his first operatic production in Tehran got him hooked on theatre. Since coming to Vancouver, he’s gotten a BFA in theatre performance from Simon Fraser University, and worked as a performer, director, and dramaturge.

As for Arash, who came here in Grade 9, friends introduced him to contemporary dance, and he’s a graduate of Out Innerspace’s Modus Operandi training program and a performer with companies like Wen Wei Dance and Kinesis Dance somatheatro.

Neither of their parents is an artist. Their father is a medical doctor and ENT surgeon, and their mother a homemaker. “But our mom does

Aryo and Arash Khakpour get physical with the story of Cain and Abel. Photo by Sepher Samimi

love dancing, I must say—at parties she would always have a solo,” Aryo explains. “But making the transition wasn’t easy,” he continues. “It was ‘What are you doing? You have to be an engineer or a doctor.’ ” “I did sign up for engineering, and I dropped out two weeks before,” says Arash, who then immersed himself in dance. “Aryo was supporting me a lot through that.…As with any immigrant culture, you’re coming to a different country to thrive, and being a male dancer was probably one of the last things they were expecting.”

“But that fight is finished and we have their full support now,” Aryo emphasizes. “It’s very interesting to have our doctor father see the piece and say, ‘Oh, this is what your piece is about.’ ” The story of Cain and Abel turns out to bridge their Iranian and Canadian cultures. The events in the Koran, which they grew up knowing, are almost identical to the tale in the Hebrew and Christian Bible. In it, the two sons of Adam and Eve offer up sacrifices to God; when He rejects Cain’s but accepts Abel’s, Cain jealously slays his sibling—in

the first act of murder on Earth.

“Diving into the story itself, it’s very personal—it’s the first birth of a human and he killed his first brother,” Aryo says. “They’re so ingrained in our psyche that they’re archetypes now.

You can talk about anything you like and layer images on top of all that. And we liked that simplicity of it.”

For the brothers, the story opened up ideas of fratricide, patriarchy, masculinity, and more. “People see it politically, and some people see just two brothers beating each other up,” Aryo quips.

Where the Khakpours get really experimental is in the second half of the show, reimagining the story as two female siblings, and drawing inspiration from Jean Genet’s 1947 play The Maids.

“The first part is the first day of the world, with Adam and Eve, and it’s quite physical and raw, so there’s a huge fast-forward in time for the second part,” Aryo says, stressing that the aggressive male story contrasts the tone of the females’. They seem to be asking us to consider how our world might be different if it had been two sisters instead of the two brothers, Cain and Abel.

Expect an experience with visuals and sounds sometimes as wild as the physical action. Alex Mah creates the soundscape, with lighting by Parjad Sharifi in the first half and Sophie Tang in the second. And the Khakpours will make symbolic use of props, including a lipstick.

So how do the brothers categorize the work? A little good-natured sibling rivalry seems to crop up here again.

“I think whatever we do, I am going to say it is theatre and Arash is going to think it’s dance,” Aryo quips.

Cain and Abel is at the Firehall Arts Centre from Wednesday to Saturday (October 3 to 6).

“Julia Bullock combines a rare on stage aura with a style that is exacting but not fussy, with hardly an unturned phrase” — The New Yorker

Tickets start at

$25

JULIA BULLOCK SOPRANO JOHN ARIDA PIANO SUN OCT 21 at 3pm I VANCOUVER PLAYHOUSE This charismatic soprano has been lighting up stages around the world with repertoire that spans Schubert to Broadway classics.

Don’t miss her Canadian debut!

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OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 85

ARTS Mustard spreads the weird and the wonderful Cast helps make the story of a troubled teen and her imaginary friend as hilarious as it is heartbreaking

Heidi Damayo and Andrew McNee star in Mustard, in which the title character has to face the fact he might have overstayed his welcome and delayed his pal’s ability to grow up. Photo by Mark Halliday

THEATRE MUSTARD

Written by Kat Sandler. Directed

by Stephen Drover. Coproduced by the Arts Club Theatre Company and the Belfry Theatre. At the Granville Island Stage on Wednesday, September 26. Continues until October 20

PLAYWRIGHT KAT SANDLER

won the 2016 Dora Award for outstanding new play for her jaw-dropping professional debut, Mustard. The Arts Club’s new coproduction with Victoria’s Belfry Theatre makes it easy to understand why.

The titular character, played by Andrew McNee, is the imaginary friend of Thai (Heidi Damayo), a very angry 16-year-old whose personal life and home life are disastrous. Thai and her mom, Sadie (Jenny Wasko-Paterson), are both still devastated that Thai’s dad walked out a year earlier. Sadie is selfmedicating with wine and pills, while Thai is getting into physical fights at school and screaming at Sadie, and Mustard is forced to face up to the fact that in his own desire to be needed, he has overstayed his welcome and delayed Thai’s ability to grow up and cope with her feelings.

Sandler’s writing is so good and it holds up beautifully to director Stephen Drover’s decision to start big and stay there, every emotion and every confrontation epic and unrelenting.

This isn’t wholly a criticism, because most of the time the production’s broadness matches Mustard’s balance of arch whimsy and traumedy (trauma-informed comedy). But there’s also a lot of tenderness and nuance in Sandler’s script, and Drover’s pacing puts additional demands on his already hard-working cast.

Damayo, making her Arts Club debut, is fantastic. Thai’s anger is utterly believable, as are the familiar teenage mood swings—deliberately cruel to madly in love, utter despair to all-consuming rage. Wasko-Paterson is heartbreaking and hilarious, and she builds a bridge between the two effortlessly. Mustard is a physically demanding role, but it’s also an emotionally rigorous one, and McNee is brilliant. The play hinges significantly on his performance, and he’s f lawless. Also, the chemistry between Wasko-Paterson and McNee is perfect, from their first startled meeting when Sadie discovers she 86 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

can suddenly see Mustard to their sweetly off-kilter f lirtation.

These performances are inspired by Sandler’s way with dialogue. I think one of the marks of a well-written play is the cast’s ability to navigate the language, particularly the swearing, and Mustard’s every F-bomb lands with precision. It’s also a play that sneaks up on you, and doesn’t provide any tidy resolutions or easy answers about love, family, and the lies we tell ourselves about loneliness, feeling needed, and the reality of growing up. Mustard is wonderful and weird, and it signals a powerful and welcome new voice in contemporary theatre.

by Andrea Warner

LES BELLES-SOEURS

By Michel Tremblay. Translated by John Van Burek and Bill Glassco.

Directed by Diane Brown. A Ruby Slippers Theatre production. At the Gateway Theatre on Saturday, September 29. Continues until October 6

THERE ARE MOMENTS of terrific theatricality and a cast to die for in this production of Les Belles-soeurs.

But there is also a surprising number of longueurs, perhaps because some parts of Michel Tremblay’s 50-year-old classic don’t translate seamlessly into this time and place.

Tremblay’s heroine, Germaine Lauzon, has won a jackpot of a million trading stamps—enough to buy her a houseful of new furniture. But first the stamps need to be pasted into their booklets, so she’s invited all her sisters and friends over to help. The first guest to arrive admits to being jealous; as the party grows, so does the simmering undercurrent of envy and petty betrayal, climaxing in the arrival of Pierrette, Germaine’s estranged—and disgraced—youngest sister.

When the play was first produced in French in 1968, it broke boundaries with its use of joual, a defiantly working-class Quebec dialect, and by pulling back the curtains on the miserable lives of working-class women through highly theatrical monologues and choral sequences. “This stupid, rotten life,” five women intone together, seated at the front of the stage and dramatically lit from below as they recite their daily routine of laundry, cooking, cleaning. “But at night, we watch TV,” they all sigh at the end of each day’s catalogue, their see next page

faces bathed in a blue glow.

Director Diane Brown and her cast of 15 do a terrific job with these stylized sequences, including an ode to bingo and the women’s synchronized theft of the stamp booklets. Among a strong ensemble, there’s solid work from Pippa Mackie as Germaine’s rebellious daughter, Linda; Sarah Rodgers as the well-off Lisette de Courval; and Sarah May Redmond as put-upon neighbour Thérèse Dubuc.

And some of the most emotionally resonant moments come from characters who have consolations other than television. Eileen Barrett’s Des-Neiges Verrette gives an affecting monologue about the monthly (platonic) visits of a travelling salesman. When spinster Angéline Sauvé is exposed as being a regular visitor to a nightclub, the older women exclaim in unison “Dear God, this is disgraceful!” while the younger ones cry “Holy shit, that’s great!” Then a note-perfect Kerry Sandomirsky delivers the play’s most openhearted monologue, as Angéline must choose between the one source of joy in her life and her judgmental friends.

For long stretches, though, the play has a strangely lifeless quality.

Some of Tremblay’s material doesn’t transcend its origins: a joke about a nun getting raped may have been an expression of rage against the repressive Catholic Church in 1960s Quebec, but in 2018, it’s not funny.

Neither is repeatedly hitting an elderly woman in a wheelchair. And since there’s no English-Canadian equivalent of joual, John Van Burek and Bill Glassco’s 1972 translation feels artificial in places, further distancing us from the characters.

A wooden crucifix looms over the filthy kitchen in Drew Facey’s set; and much like these women’s lives, Ellen Gu’s costumes are simultaneously colourful and drab.

Fifty years on, it’s the moments of hope that offer the most satisfaction in Les Belles-soeurs, but there aren’t many.

Despair and bitterness—the main sustenance in these women’s lives—can only carry an audience so far.

In Incognito Mode: A Play About Porn, a group of 20-somethings are partying together when the discussion turns to sex and porn. From there, we see how both have influenced the Internet generation’s self-esteem, group dynamic, and intimacy. Photo by Emily Cooper

INCOGNITO MODE: A PLAY ABOUT PORN

Written by Marcus Youssef.

Directed by Chelsea Haberlin.

A Studio 58 and Neworld Theatre coproduction. At Studio 58 on Saturday, September 29. Continues until October 14

IN ITS BEST MOMENTS, Incog-

nito Mode: A Play About Porn is as ambitious and timely as it is provocative, distressing, and funny. But Marcus Youssef’s new play, created in collaboration with fifth-term students at Studio 58, is also frustrating and flawed.

Incognito Mode centres on a group of 20-somethings, former high-school friends, reunited again after some time apart. They’re drinking and partying, talk turns to sex and porn, and we see how both have influenced everything from their self-esteem and their intimate relationships to their group dynamic as friends. The commonality, of course, is that they all grew up with relatively easy access

by Kathleen Oliver to all types of pornography, for better

KILL ME NOW

or worse, thanks to the Internet.

The young cast digs into the material with enthusiasm and sensitivity. An early highlight is a raucous and raunchy group dance number with ridiculously over-the-top props, choreography, and costumes. It’s laugh-out-loud funny and the actors are obviously relishing every moment. Chelsea Haberlin’s direction

is particularly effective throughout. For the most part, her cast navigate their lines and the stage with confidence, no matter how difficult or revealing the material or the content.

The challenge lies mostly in the script.

The playwright demonstrates a lot of compassion and care for the cast and takes the play’s subject matter seriously.

Youssef demonstrates a clear understanding that in talking responsibly about pornography, one must also explore its relationship to things like consent, sexual health and sexual violence, queerness, exploitation, gendered violence, feminism, the patriarchy, agency, addiction, desensitization, intimacy, shame, and technology. The script touches on each of these areas, which is no small feat, but it feels clunky in some places, sparse in others, and is generally uneven.

Incognito Mode is fairly progressive and well-informed, but also plays it safe, falling back on stereotypes sometimes rather than challenging them. Two examples: the only depiction of a functional, intimate relationship involves the white, heterosexual couple; and the fat character is written as a joke, always eating and waxing on about food in an absurdly sexualized way. The play succeeds very well in communicating porn’s ubiquity, and makes space for multiple viewpoints on the subject. It clearly distinguishes the difference between ethical and unethical porn, as well as unpacking the effects of the male gaze on young women and the extent of gendered violence and sexual exploitation.

It also takes seriously the sexual agency and pleasure of young women, which is vitally important. There’s a huge need for a play like the one Incognito Mode wants to be. This script, this version, just needs a bit more TLC.

by Andrea Warner

Explorer Speaker Series at the Orpheum theatre

– Britishtheatre.com

BY BRAD FRASER

"Blunt shocking darkly funny" – CBC

Join us for SPINOSAURUS: LOST GIANT OF THE CRETACEOUS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10 UP CLOSE. IN PERSON. LIVE!

Oct 13–27 | Firehall Arts Centre touchstonetheatre.com

more info at

www.vancouvercivictheatres.com OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 87

ARTS

Loud words meet photo subtlety

by Robin Laurence

At the CAG, Dove Allouche’s Sunflower 25 (left) is as much about the photo as it is about the gentle scientific process that went into making it.

Meanwhile, Californian Kameelah Janan Rasheed’s text works test the way language can challenge social justice and cultural complacency.

VISUAL ARTS DOVE ALLOUCHE

At the Contemporary Art Gallery until December 28

KAMEELAH JANAN RASHEED

At the Contemporary Art Gallery and Yaletown-Roundhouse Station until March 17

TWO NEW EXHIBITIONS at the Contemporary Art Gallery could hardly be more different in intention or execution. Kameelah Janan Rasheed’s text works, installed in the gallery’s Nelson Street windows and off-site, at the Yaletown-Roundhouse Canada Line station, examine ways in which language may challenge social injustice and disrupt cultural complacency. Dove Allouche’s seemingly abstract photographs and photo-drawing hybrids employ antiquated processes to depict and reiterate natural occurrences and phenomena that are usually hidden from view.

An artist, writer, and educator, born in California and based in Brooklyn, Rasheed deploys words as her principal medium, whether through exhibitions, public art, performative lectures, or publications. “Within these modes,” writes curator Kimberly Phillips in the exhibition brochure, “she uses expressions of everyday vernaculars and experimental poetics to consider Black subjectivity.” This is most obvious in “How to Suffer Politely (And Other Etiquette)” at the CAG’s off-site location.

Consisting of five large vinyl posters with exclamatory black capital letters on a yellow ground, the bitterly

ironic work was made in response to suggestions that black people in America (and elsewhere) not react with anger to the violence and blatant abuses of power directed against them.

Among other examples, the posters advise readers to “LOWER THE PITCH OF YOUR SUFFERING” and “TAKE IT LIKE A MAN BUT DON’T TAKE IT UP WITH ‘THE MAN.’ ” “An Alphabetical Accumulation of Approximate Observations”, in the CAG’s windows, is more poetic, more subtly provocative. This work consists of some two dozen unexpected and alliterative pairings of adjectives and nouns, executed in handmade letters.

Phrases include “Pudgy Power”, “Aggregated Apathy”, “Durable Dystopia”, and “Uppity Uterus”. The words, together with odd shapes that resemble offcuts, are rendered in black and white and installed against a background of “Baker-Miller pink”, a paint colour developed in the 1970s as a purported means of calming aggressive or agitated people in institutional settings.

Again, irony is inherent here: the work is an active call to passersby to consider what these phrases might mean while also draping itself in a form of passivity-inducing social control.

Born and based in Paris, Allouche cultivates a number of old and often demanding photographic and scientific processes, from ambrotypes to heliogravures. As Phillips points out, “the medium itself becomes the subject.”

For instance, in his “Pétrographie” series, Allouche has used thin slices of an ancient stalagmite as the photographic negative through which he has

developed his gelatin silver print, creating a characteristic kind of circularity, a tautology. At the same time, the rings of calcite evident in the stalagmite invite us to meditate on the passage of time. Time passing is also an element in his “Pétrifiantes”, 18 small images of dripping stalagmites and stalactites shot over many weeks in unlit caves, and similarly in “Déversoir d’Orage”, 14 engraved copper plates showing mineral accretions in the Paris sewer system.

Allouche may also intervene manually in the photographic process, insinuating the mark of his hand using graphite and alcohol, as in his Surplomb 7, or the swipe of his arm, as in Sunflower 11.

Here, science marries abstraction with evocations of mid-20th-century modernism. Still, a number of Allouche’s large prints read as grey-on-grey or beige-on-beige monochromes, and are so visually understated that the processes of their creation are often more interesting than the images themselves.

By contrast, four works from his “Fungi” series really pop. Created by cultivating ancient fungus species in a petri dish, photographing them in colour, reproducing them as photolithographs, and mounting them behind hand-blown crown glass, they are visual marvels. As sensuous as they are serious, the circular forms and delicate colours of the fungi are enhanced by the shiny, undulating glass surfaces. Here, the artist seems to care enough for his viewers to draw our eyes to his work and—not inconsequentially—to compel our full engagement with his complex investigations into time and matter.

October 6, 2018 – January 28, 2019 4350 Blackcomb Way, Whistler, B.C. audainartmuseum.com

Spinifex Men’s Collaborative, Wati Kutjarra (Two Men Story), 2003, Synthetic polymer paint on canvas 82 11/16 x 74 13/16 in., Promised gift of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan, In honor of the 75th anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum © Spinifex Men’s Collaborative, Photo by Susan Cole, Courtesy American Federation of Arts

88 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

ARTS LISTINGS ONGOING CURIOUS IMAGININGS Vancouver Biennale 2018-2020 is excited to present the groundbreaking immersive sculpture exhibition Curious Imaginings. For the first time ever, renowned Australian artist Patricia Piccinini is taking her hyperrealist, fantastical creatures outside the museum.

The intimate setting of a wing of 18 rooms in Strathcona’s historic Patricia Hotel will be transformed for the Curious Imaginings exhibition. To Dec 15, Patricia Hotel (403 East Hastings Street ). Tix $16-40.

THE COMEDY MIX 1015 Burrard, Century Plaza Hotel & Spa, 604-684-5050, www. thecomedymix.com/. Comedy club with proam night Tue at 8:30 pm, showcase Wed at 8:30 pm, and featured headliners Thu at 8:30 pm and Fri-Sat at 8 and 10:30 pm. Cover $8 Tue, $10 Wed, $15 Thu, $18 Fri, $20 Sat. EDDIE IFFT Oct 4-6 KATE DAVIS Oct 11-14 PETE ZEDLACHER Oct 18-20.

YUK YUK’S COMEDY CLUB 2837 Cambie, 604-696-9857, www.yukyuks.com/ vancouver/. Comedy club with Top Talent Tue at 8 pm, amateur night Wed at 8 pm, and professional headliners Thu-Fri at 8 pm and Sat at 7 and 9:30 pm. Cover Tue $10, Wed $7, Thu $10, and Fri-Sat $20.

THE MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY AT UBC 6393 NW Marine Drive, 604-822-5087.

IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT: REFLECTING ON NORTHWEST COAST ART to spring 2019 CULTURE AT THE CENTRE to Oct 8 DOUGLAS COUPLAND’S VORTEX Douglas Coupland’s new radical art installation takes an imaginative journey to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, immersing viewers in the ocean-plastic pollution crisis. To April 30, 2019, Vancouver Aquarium (845 Avison Way, Stanley Park). Tix $22/39.

BILL REID GALLERY OF NORTHWEST COAST ART 639 Hornby, 604-682-3455. BODY LANGUAGE: REAWAKENING CULTURAL TATTOOING OF THE NORTHWEST to Jan 13 INTERFACE: THE WOVEN ARTWORK OF JAAD KUUJUS to Jan 9 TITANIC: THE ARTIFACT EXHIBITION Exhibition focuses on the legendary RMS Titanic‘s compelling human stories through more than 120 authentic artifacts and extensive room re-creations. To Jan 11, 2019, Lipont Place (4211 No. 3 Road).

MUSEUM OF VANCOUVER 1100 Chestnut, 604-736-4431. WILD THINGS: THE POWER OF NATURE IN OUR LIVES to Sep 30 HAIDA NOW: A VISUAL FEAST OF INNOVATION AND TRADITION to Dec 1, 2019 VANCOUVER ART GALLERY 750 Hornby, 604-662-4719. 2AYUMI GOTO & PETER MORIN: HOW DO YOU CARRY THE LAND? to Oct 28 KEVIN SCHMIDT: WE ARE THE ROBOTS to Oct 28 A CURATOR’S VIEW: IAN THOM SELECTS to Mar 17 VANCOUVER ART GALLERY’S OFFSITE LOCATION 1100 West Georgia Street.

OFFSITE: SHIGERU BAN to Oct 8 BACK TO SCHOOL THEATRESPORTS Vancouver TheatreSports improv show dedicated to school days takes short-form improv games and adapts them to parody classroom clichés and cliques. To Oct 6, The Improv Centre (1502 Duranleau, Granville Island). Tix from $10.75.

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME The Arts Club Theatre Company presents a play about a 15-yearold who, when his neighbour’s dog is killed, challenges his own barriers to uncover the truth about the dog, his family, and himself.

To Oct 7, Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage (2750 Granville). Tix from $29.

MUSTARD The Arts Club Theatre Company presents Kat Sandler’s tale about growing up, moving on, and finding magic where you least expect it. To Oct 20, Granville Island Stage (1585 Johnston, Granville Island). Tix from $29.

THE POLYGON GALLERY 101 Carrie Cates Court. THE LIND PRIZE 2018 to Oct 7

BEST

MEDIA, ARTS & CULTURE

ARTISAN CRAFT FAIR

1. Circle Craft 2. Make It Vancouver 3. Got Craft?

BURLESQUE SHOW

1. The Biltmore: Kitty Nights Burlesque 2. Geekenders 3. Screaming Chicken Theatrical Society

COMEDIAN

1.

1.

2.

3.

Ivan Decker (tie) Charles Demers (tie) Ross Dauk Seth Rogen

COMEDY CLUB

1. The Comedy MIX 1015 Burrard Street 2. Yuk Yuk Comedy Club 2837 Cambie Street 3. Little Mountain Gallery 195 East 26th Avenue KAMLOOPA Indigenous matriarchal story follows two urban Indigenous sisters and a lawless trickster who face the world head-on as they come to terms with what it means to honour who they are and where they come from. To Oct 6, 8 pm, Historic Theatre (the Cultch, 1895 Venables). Tix from $24.

THE CASCADIA PROJECT Founded by playwright Bryan Wade, The Cascadia Project showcases new works from local Vancouver playwrights. To Oct 7, 7:30 pm, Studio 1398 (1398 Cartwright, Granville Island). Tix $15.

LES BELLES-SOEURS Ruby Slippers Theatre presents Michel Tremblay’s play about the hilarious misfortune of one woman’s fortune, directed by Diane Brown. To Oct 6, Gateway Theatre (6500 Gilbert Rd., Richmond). Tix from $29-55.

INCOGNITO MODE: A PLAY ABOUT PORN Studio 58 and Neworld Theatre present a generational exploration of pornography in the digital age. To Oct 14, Studio 58 (Langara College, 100 W. 49th).

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3 KEALOHA The Chan Centre’s Beyond Words Series presents Hawaii’s first official poet laureate. Oct 3, Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (6265 Crescent Rd., UBC).

CAIN AND ABEL Directors Arash and Aryo Khakpour explore the idea of jealousy and sibling rivalry in The Biting School’s production. Oct 3-6, Firehall Arts Centre (280 E. Cordova). Tix from $20.

SHAZIA HAFIZ RAMJI Book launch for Ramji’s poetry collection Port of Being. Oct 3, 7 pm, Massy Books (229 E. Georgia St.).

AM A Mindy Parfitt and Amber Funk Barton examine identity through the lens of jneuroplasticity, using personal text, scientific writing, song, and dance. Oct 3-6, 8 pm, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts (6450 Deer Lake Ave., Burnaby). Tix $15-36.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4 TRICKSTERS & TRANSFORMERS: AN EVENING OF INDIGENOUS WORD An evening of literature, poetry, and hip-hop by Indigenous artists-activists Eden Robinson, Christie Charles, and Snotty Nose Rez Kids.

COMMUNITY FESTIVAL

1. West 4th Khatsalano Street Party 2. Italian Day on the Drive 3. Car Free Day Vancouver

DANCE STUDIO

1. Harbour Dance Company 927 Granville Street 2. iDance Vancouver 119 West Broadway 3. Ballet Lounge 1340 Granville Street

IMPROV TROUPE OR COMPANY

1. Vancouver TheatreSports League (The Improv Centre) 2. The Sunday Service Improv (Fox Cabaret) 3. The Fictionals Comedy Company (Various locations)

LITERARY EVENT

1. Vancouver Writers Fest 2. Word Vancouver 3. Growing Room: A Feminist Literary Festival Oct 4, The Museum of Anthropology at UBC (6393 NW Marine Drive).

UBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conductor Jonathan Girard leads the UBC Symphony Orchestra in a noon performance of excerpts from Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, featuring Katherine Ciesinski (mezzosoprano) and J. Patrick Raftery (tenor). Oct 4, 12 pm, Chan Shun Concert Hall (6265 Crescent Rd., Chan Centre at UBC). Free.

DISCOVER DANCE! COMPANY 605 Program offers a sneak peek at Company 605’s new ensemble work, plus an excerpt from Albatross, a duet created in collaboration with Brussels-based choreographer German Jauregui. Oct 4, 12-1 pm, Scotiabank Dance Centre (677 Davie).

Tix $15/13.

ADAM DELOREY Comedian performs three nights of standup. Oct 4, 8 pm; Oct 5, 8 pm; Oct 6, 7 pm; Oct 6, 9:30 pm, Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Club (2837 Cambie). $20.

TWS READING SERIES Wayde Compton, former director of The Writer’s Studio, is joined by a cross-section of readers including current students, TWS alumni, and local authors. Oct 4, 8-9:30 pm, Hood 29 (4470 Main, formerly Cottage Bistro). Free.

BLACK ONYX: THE HUMAN BRAIN ON MUSIC AND SOUND Aryan Borboruah’s SCA MFA graduating project, an exploration of music psychology. Warning: 21+, contains disturbing sounds. Oct 4, 8:30 pm, Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre, Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (149 W. Hastings St.). Tix $15/10/7.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5 THE PIANO TEACHER The Arts Club on Tour presents Dorothy Dittrich’s play in which lessons on life and love are taught through music. Oct 5-6, Kay Meek Arts Centre (1700 Mathers Ave., West Van). Tix $48/45.

UBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA — SLIPPAGES Under the baton of Maestro Jonathan Girard, the UBC Symphony Orchestra performs Tsang-Houei Hsu’s “The Splendid Universe” (Chinese Festival Overture, Op. 18) and Mahler’s “Das Lied von der Erde”. Oct 5, 7:30 pm, Chan Shun Concert Hall (6265 Crescent Rd., Chan Centre at UBC). Tix $8.

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ARTS LISTINGS from previous page

KRAPP’S LAST TAPE Seven Tyrants Theatre opens its first season with Samuel Beckett’s absurdist one-man work. Oct 5-26, 8 pm, Tyrant Studios (1019 Seymour Street). Tix $26.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6 THE CRYSTALLINE CABARET PRESENTS: DR. COPPELIUS Dance, sideshow, drag, burlesque, and theatre come together in an allegorical wonderland inspired by the classic ballet, Coppelia. Oct 6, 8-10 pm, Fox Cabaret (2321 Main). Tix $20 advance, $25 at the door.

THE COMIC STRIP David Thomas Newham and Dave Harris host standup comedy by Abdul Aziz, Colin Sharp, and headliner Byron Bertram. Oct 6, 9 pm, Tyrant Studios (1019 Seymour Street). Tix $18.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7 OPERA ON A SUNDAY Burnaby Lyric Opera’s best and brightest perfor pieces from various operas. Oct 7, 3 pm, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts (6450 Deer Lake Ave., Burnaby). Tix $15.

OPERA POTPOURRI Burnaby Lyric Opera presents a program of excerpts from Carmen, La Bohème, Pagliacci, and Roméo et Juliette. Oct 7, 3 pm, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts (6450 Deer Lake Ave., Burnaby). Tix $15.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18

MEDIA, ARTS & CULTURE

LIVE PERFORMING-ARTS VENUE

1. Queen Elizabeth Theatre 650 Hamilton Street 2. Chan Centre for the Performing Arts 6265 Crescent Road 3. The Cultch 1895 Venables Street

CLASSICAL MUSIC ENSEMBLE

1. Vancouver Symphony Orchestra 2. Turning Point Ensemble 3. Vetta Chamber Music

CLASSICAL VOCAL ENSEMBLE

1. Chor Leoni 2. Elektra Women’s Choir 3. Vancouver Chamber Choir

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10 VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL IMPROV FESTIVAL Performers include Orange Tuxedo from L.A., The 1992 Chicago Bulls from Dallas, RÅ Power from Edmonton, and Vancouver’s The Sunday Service, Shakespeare After Dark, and Vancouver TheatreSports. Oct 10-13, The Red Gate Revue Stage (1601 Johnston Street, Granville Island ). Tix $15-$25.

SWEENEY TODD The Snapshots Collective presents the ghoulish site-specific musicalthriller. Oct 10-31, Mrs. Lovett’s Pie Shop (348 Water Street).

INFINITE BLUE BOOK LAUNCH Authors Darren Groth and Simon Groth launch their YA novel. Oct 10, 7 pm, Book Warehouse (4118 Main St.). Free.

CHRIS HEDGES An eloquent speaker who bluntly calls out the corporate coup d’état in American politics. Presented by the BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts. Oct 10, 8 pm, BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts (2055 Purcell Way). $12/$10, www.capilanou.ca/centre/.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11 BURN Sidekick Players open their 22nd season with a new murder-mystery by Ottawa playwright John Muggleton, directed by Patrick Truelove. Oct 11-27, Tsawwassen Arts Centre (1172 56th St., Delta). Tix $18/15.

STUDIO SHOWING: JOE INK Joe Laughlin, artistic director of Joe Ink and Dance Centre

MUSEUM

1. Museum of Anthropology at UBC 6393 Northwest Marine Drive 2. Museum of Vancouver 1100 Chestnut Street 3. Vancouver Maritime Museum 1905 Ogden Avenue

PERFORMING-ARTS FESTIVAL

1. Vancouver Fringe Festival 2. Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival 3. PuSh International Performing Arts Festival

PROFESSIONAL DANCE COMPANY

1. Ballet BC 2. Kidd Pivot 3. Company 605

artist-in-residence, premieres his firstever full length solo show. Oct 11, 1-2 pm, Scotiabank Dance Centre (677 Davie). Free.

ARTIST TALK: WOLFGANG WEILEDER Join artist Wolfgang Weileder as he discusses the relationship between time and space within his practice. Oct 11, 7 pm, Contemporary Art Gallery (555 Nelson). Free.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12 ALEXANDRA SMITHER Canadian-British soprano is joined by pianist Trevor Chartrand in a program of songs by Poulenc, Schubert, and Granados. Oct 12, 11:30 am, Christ Church Cathedral (690 Burrard). Tix $42/38.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13 KILL ME NOW Touchstone Theatre presents the B.C. premiere of Canadian playwright Brad Fraser’s play about a single dad caring for his severely disabled teen son. Oct 13-27, Firehall Arts Centre (280 E. Cordova). Tix from $17 to $33.

SPLASH Arts Umbrella’s 36th annual art auction and gala, with proceeds to support youth arts programming across Metro Vancouver. Oct 13, 6 pm, Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (900 W. Georgia). Tix $350-500.

THE MUSIC OF WAR: 100TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION Maria Jung, Eve-Lyn de la Haye. and Lawrence de la Haye commemorate the 100th anniversary of First World War through voice, clarinet, and piano.

Oct 13, 7 pm, Place des Arts (1120 Brunette Ave.). Tix $21/16.

THEATRE COMPANY

1. Arts Club Theatre Company 2. Bard on the Beach 3. Touchstone Theatre

PRIVATE ART GALLERY

1. Rennie Museum 51 East Pender Street 2. Ian Tan Gallery 2342 Granville Street 3. Equinox Gallery Vancouver 110–525 Great Northern Way

PUBLIC ART GALLERY

1. Vancouver Art Gallery 750 Hornby Street 2. Contemporary Art Gallery 555 Nelson Street 3. Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art 639 Hornby Street VPO & JOAN BLACKMAN The Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra and violinist Joan Blackman perform works by Beethoven, Schubert, and Mendelssohn. Oct 13, 8 pm, Shaughnessy Heights United Church (1550 W. 33rd). Tix $20/15 (12-and-under free).

ERATO ENSEMBLE PRESENTS “PAST” Erato Ensemble presents a concert filled with music from or about the past, including Schubert’s Shepherd on the Rock and Dvořák’s Songs My Mother Taught Me. Oct 13, 8 pm, Orpheum Annex (823 Seymour). Tix $15-$30.

F IS FOR FUNNY Erin Jeffery emcees a night of comedy featuring Katie Nordgren, Ash Dhawan, Naomi Yamato, Syd Bosel, Ed Hill, Jan Bannister, and headliner Fatima Dhowre. Oct 13, 8-9:30 pm, Anvil Centre (777 Columbia St.). Tix $22.

VANCOUVER ART GALLERY 750 Hornby, 604-662-4719. GUO PEI: COUTURE BEYOND Oct 13–Jan 20, 2019, 10 am–5 pm

MONDAY, OCTOBER 15 PRESIDENT’S CONCERT SERIES | A FREE CONCERT WITH TONY YIKE YANG As part of the President’s Concert Series, UBC invites you to attend a special free concert of Great Masters of piano repertoire featuring pianist Tony Yike Yang. 19-year-old ChineseCanadian Tony Yike Yang is emerging as one of the foremost pianists of the younger generation. Oct 15, 6:30 pm, UBC Old Auditorium (6344 Memorial Rd., UBC). Tix at www.ubcoperatickets.com/.

LYDIA AVSEC/COPILOT DESIGN

I KNOW WHAT I SAW Studio 58 presents the Risky Nights Production of a student play that examines how people’s biases colour their worldview. Oct 9-14, Studio 58 (Langara College, 100 W. 49th). Admission by donation.

SPOOKTOBER Vancouver TheatreSports League presents a seasonal celebration of all things eerie with four different shows: Monster Matches, Cult Fiction, Scared Witless, and WTF. Oct 9-31, The Improv Centre (1502 Duranleau, Granville Island). Tix from $10.75.

GUO PEI AND BRONWYN COSGRAVE IN CONVERSATION In advance of the opening of the exhibition Guo Pei: Couture Beyond, the Vancouver Art Gallery presents a conversation with artist and designer Guo Pei, facilitated by fashion journalist Bronwyn Cosgrave. Oct 9, 7 pm, Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (900 W. Georgia). Tix $30/27/25.

BABY-SITTER Dark comedy echoes the concerns of the #MeToo movement and shakes up male-female relationships. Oct 9-13, 8-9:30 pm, Studio 16 (1555 W. 7th). Tix $22-30.

BEST

SO, HOW SHOULD I BE? World premiere of Linda A. Carson’s play explores the impact that social and mass media, community, friends and family has on body image. Oct 18-28, Presentation House Theatre (333 Chesterfield Ave., North Van). Tix $10-20.

SWEAT The Arts Club Theatre Company presents Lynn Nottage’s powerful examination of a community that is formed and dissolved amidst the changing landscape of America. Oct 18–Nov 18, Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage (2750 Granville). Tix from $29.

CHRIS GRIFFIN: I’M NOT YOUR FAMILY, GUY JFL NorthWest presents two shows by Calgary-born, Vancouver-based comedian.

Oct 18, 7 & 9:30 pm, Biltmore Cabaret (2755 Prince Edward).

CROWVILLE CABARET HALLOWEEN HARVEST Monthly cabaret show featuring stand up comedy, burlesque, improv, and live music. Oct 18, 8 pm, LanaLou’s Restaurant (362 Powell). Tix $10.

VANCOUVER SLOW MOVEMENT PANEL Forget being the greenest city. This panel discussion on how to reclaim a sane pace of life aims to make Vancouver the slowest city. Presented by the BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts. Oct 18, 8 pm, BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts (2055 Purcell Way). $12/$10, www.capilanou.ca/centre/.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19 THE WOLVES With A Spoon and Rumble Theatre present a play about a teenage girls’ soccer team whose members grapple with everything from pop culture to politics, discovering their identities as individuals and a team. Oct 19–Nov 10, Pacific Theatre (1440 W. 12th). Tix $20-36.50.

LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE Composer Thomas Beckman premieres an original work, performed with the Borealis String Quartet.

Oct 19, 7:30 pm, H.R. MacMillan Space Centre (1100 Chestnut). Tix $35-40.

JODI PICOULT IN CONVERSATION WITH MARSHA LEDERMAN Bestselling author Jodi Picoult speaks about her latest release A Spark of Light. Oct 19, 7:30 pm, Norman Rothstein Theatre (950 W. 41st). Tix $15-40.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20 THE MERRY WIDOW (DIE LUSTIGE WITWE) Vancouver Opera presents Franz Lehár’s comedic operetta, directed by Kelly Robinson. Oct 20-28, Queen Elizabeth Theatre (650 Hamilton). Tix from $50.

PINOCCHIO Karen Flamenco Dance Company presents a narrative involving puppetry, magic, music, and dance. Oct

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DURUFLÉ REQUIEM AND BERNSTEIN CHICHESTER PSALMS OCT 13 2018 AT 7:30PM I ST. ANDREW’S-WESLEY UNITED CHURCH KATHLEEN ALLAN CONDUCTOR EMMA PARKINSON MEZZO SOPRANO I TYLER SIMPSON BASS-BARITONE ANDREAS DALA BOY SOPRANO I EDWARD NORMAN ORGAN I JANELLE NADEAU HARP I DANIEL TONES PERCUSSION I RESERVED SEATING

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90 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

ARTS LISTINGS

Arts

HOT TICKET OFFENSIVELY FUNNY

Bad boy Eddie Ifft is hitting the Comedy MIX from Thursday to Saturday (October 4 to 6), and standup nerds should be out in force. Ifft holds the dubious distinction of hosting the only podcast (Talkin’ Shit) to be banned from iTunes for offensive content—so don’t expect the safe or the subtle, but do settle in for some hilarious storytelling.

Crisantemi for strings. Oct 26, 12:10-1 pm, Vancouver Art Gallery (750 Hornby). Free for VAG members, day-admission charges for non-members at the door.

MATERIAL WITNESS Coproduction between Spiderwoman Theater of New York City and Aanmitaagzi, an Indigenous multidisciplinary-arts company from Nipissing First Nation, Ontario. Oct 26-27, 8 pm, Ukrainian Hall (805 E. Pender). Tix $20/15.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27 ARTIST TALK: KAMEELAH JANAN RASHEED Join Brooklyn-based artist Kameelah Janan Rasheed for a walking tour discussing her works on view at CAG and off-site at the Yaletown-Roundhouse Canada Line Station.

Oct 27, 3 pm, Contemporary Art Gallery (555 Nelson). Free.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28 IAN PARKER: SOLO VARIATIONS Pianist Ian Parker performs a program of works by Beethoven, Brahms, Gershwin, and Haydn.

Oct 28, 3 pm, Kay Meek Arts Centre (1700 Mathers Ave., West Van). Tix $19-48.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON TOURS Join CAG Visitor Coordinator Jocelyn Statia for a Sunday afternoon tour of the current exhibitions: Oct 28, 3 pm, Contemporary Art Gallery (555 Nelson). Free.

KING OF COMEDY

Elsewhere in standup comedy, its biggest star is also here this week: Jerry Seinfeld hits the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Thursday and Friday (October 4 and 5). No, he won’t be driving on-stage in a vintage car or sipping a cuppa joe with a pal, like he does in his hit Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. But it will be vintage Jerry, telling jokes with wryly observed detail.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1 RUSSELL PETERS Canadian comedy superstar performs on his Deported World Tour. Nov 1, 8 pm, Rogers Arena (800 Griffiths Way). Tix from $71.25 to $125.80.

20, 2 pm, 7 pm, Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton). Tix $30/$40.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24 THE ONES WE LEAVE BEHIND Play explores themes of isolation and poses the question: are the greatest walls the ones we build within ourselves? Oct 24–Nov 3, 8 am, Historic Theatre (the Cultch, 1895 Venables). Tix $24-$51.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25 THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW Richard O’Brien’s kitschy musical-theatre rock ‘n’ roll gothic thriller. Oct 25–Nov 10, Waterfront Theatre (1412 Cartwright St., Granville Island).

Tix from $39.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3 CALL MR. ROBESON - A LIFE, WITH SONGS Tayo Aluko’s one-man play explores the life of the legendary African-American actor and singer. Nov 3, 8 pm, St. James’ Anglican Church (303 E. Cordova). Tix $20/15.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4 CANZINE VANCOUVER Panels, workshops, programming for kids and teens, and over 100 zine and comic vendors. Nov 4, 1-7 pm, Djavad Mowafaghian World Arts Centre (SFU Woodward’s, 149 W. Hastings). Free.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26

GAD ELMALEH French comedy star performs an evening of standup. Nov 8, 8 pm, Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (6265 Crescent Rd., UBC). Tix $60.80-71.90.

OUT FOR LUNCH Pianist Libby Yu joins the Arietta Quartet in Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34 and Puccini’s rarely performed

THRENODY: REQUIEM AND

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10

REMEMBRANCE The Vancouver Cantata Singers explore and share choral music of consolation and reflection. Nov 10, 7:30 pm, Christ Church Cathedral (690 Burrard). Tix $10-35.

18/19

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11 WHEN THERE IS PEACE Chor Leoni Men’s Choir honours the 100th anniversary of the First World War Armistice with a world premiere oratorio by Canadian-American composer Zachary Wadsworth. Nov 11, 3 pm, West Vancouver United Church (2062 Esquimalt). Tix $45/20/10.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13 BEAUTIFUL - THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL Musical tells the inspiring true story of pop legend Carole King’s rise to stardom. Nov 13-18, 8 pm, Queen Elizabeth Theatre Plaza (650 Hamilton St.). Tix from $30.50.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24 CHEZ NOUS: CHRISTMAS WITH ELEKTRA Christmas concert featuring the Elektra Women’s Choir, tenor Ben Heppner, pianist Stephen Smith, and the VYC Kids. Nov 24, 7:30 pm, Shaughnessy Heights United Church (1550 W. 33rd). Tix $15-$35.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 25 CHEZ NOUS: CHRISTMAS WITH ELEKTRA Christmas concert featuring the Elektra choir, tenor Ben Heppner, pianist Stephen Smith, and the VYC Kids. Nov 25, 3 pm, Good Shepherd Church (2250 150th St., Surrey).

Tix $15-$35.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9 UNIVERSAL GOSPEL CHOIR PRESENTS THE MAGIC OF YULE The Universal Gospel Choir performs its annual holiday concert, with guests Roy & Rosemary. Dec 9, 7 pm, Orpheum Theatre (601 Smithe). Tix $48/40/35.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14 CHRISTMAS WITH CHOR LEONI Chor Leoni presents its traditional holiday concert of seasonal songs. Dec 14, 8 pm; Dec 16, 8 pm; Dec 17, 5 pm; Dec 17, 8 pm, St. Andrew’s– Wesley United Church (1022 Nelson). Tix $45/20/10.

STUDIO 58 /LANGARA COLLEGE & NEWORLD THEATRE PRESENT

INCOGNITO MODE: DE: A PLAY ABOUT PORN RN

A generational exploration of pornography in the digital age.

27

WARNING: This project contains coarse language, explicit sexual content, depiction of sexual violence, and is recommended for audiences aged 16 and older.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15 CHRISTMAS WITH CHOR LEONI Chor Leoni presents its traditional holiday concert of seasonal songs. Dec 15, 3 pm, West Vancouver United Church (2062 Esquimalt).

Tix $45/20/10.

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movies

VIFF

Best of the fest hits all the right notes

T

Ryuicho is an older man, responsible for oddball youth-culture items like Vibrator and Tokyo Trash Baby. But he is adapting from a novel by a millennial female who takes no shit, as reflected in several former girls (and one ambiguously oriented character), now pushing 30 and looking back at their golden years of high school in a town that became much too small for them. The formally playful effort jumps between decades and central POVs, but the common thread is everyone’s swoony recollections of the school’s hunky heartthrob, who may or may not still be around.

Did we mention that it’s also a musical?

International Village, October 9 (7 p.m.) and 10 (11:15 a.m.) KE

here’s love, and war, and all the jazz that goes in between—of the Blue Note variety, in particular—as the Vancouver International Film Festival rolls into its second week of screenings. Here’s what our critics saw and, for the most part, liked. Be sure to go to Straight.com for more reviews, news, and features.

ALL GOOD (Germany) The common

German phrase “Alles ist gut” is Janne’s mantra as she tries to move on from a sexual assault that happens after a drunken high-school reunion. But the violation, shot in detached banality on an apartment floor, starts to catch up with her—especially at work, when she has to see her boss’s brother-in-law, the awkward, somewhat remorseful perpetrator. Eva Trobisch’s striking first feature asserts itself as one of several strong explorations of sexual harassment hitting VIFF at this #MeToo moment. And it goes beyond headlines and into the real nuances of assault. In Aenne Schwarz’s subtle hands, you can see a woman putting on a strong, assured front, but also the all-too-human self-doubt that starts to nag at her. Did she misconstrue what happened? Did she give in too easily?

They’re questions that are unfounded but all too familiar to women everywhere— and they begin to unravel her marriage, her career, and her world. International Village, October 5 (7 p.m.) Janet Smith

AT WAR (France) Led by Laurent (wonderful Vincent Lindon), striking workers at a French auto-parts company tenuously hold their ground while demanding to meet with the company’s remote CEO, removed by one country and several orders of notgiving-a-shit in Germany. Ruthless in exposing the pathologies of corporate culture and the fatuousness of its defenders (and its victim-enablers), Stéphane Brizé’s red-blooded drama is structured as a series of conflicts that lead to that final showdown, each one escalating the unavoidable cycle of class conflict to a chaotic and viscerally depicted climax. When the big boss eventually shows up, he’s full of almost comically glib platitudes, until the reptilian cant of a true capitalist zealot finally pours out. His fate is more satisfying (and funnier) than the perhaps unnecessarily melodramatic turn that awaits others, but until then, At War is like Gallic Ken Loach: a fantastic blast of humane and righteously angry cinema. Playhouse, October 8 (6:30 p.m.) Adrian Mack BAIKONUR, EARTH (Italy) An eerie combination of nostalgia, historical displacement, and sci-fi lyricism marks this brief yet languorous look at one of the most remote places on Earth. Like Chile’s Atacama Desert, this stark slab of open plain in Kazakhstan is perfect for certain astronomical pursuits, and so became the central launching point of the Soviet space program. There are still vestiges of it there, some in use and others abandoned, and Italian filmmaker Andrea Sorini lets the mystery unfold as his camera probes the grassy spaces, brutalist architecture, and neon-lit karaoke bars of a flickering quadrant on the map of forgotten humanity. International Village, October 4 (7 p.m.) and 7 (4:30 p.m.) Ken Eisner BAREFOOT (Czech Republic) Top Czech director Jan Sverák gives us a kind of prequel to his postwar classic The Elementary School, with mixed results. Although the subject remains interesting—the Nazi occupation as seen through the eyes of a small boy mostly removed from the horror, à la England’s Hope and Glory—the characters are not particularly engaging and the movie strains a bit too hard for comic relief. SFU, October 6 (11 a.m.); Playhouse, October 8 (9:15 p.m.) KE

Aenne Schwarz takes the lead in Germany’s All Good, one of a number of strong movies at this year’s festival that deal with sexual harassment; In It’s Boring Here, Pick Me Up, Hashimoto Ai returns to her small town looking for the hunky heartthrob who still haunts her memories of youth.

BLUE NOTE RECORDS: BEYOND THE NOTES (Switzerland/USA/U.K.)

Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, two Jews who fled Nazi Berlin in the 1930s and later started a trad-jazz and boogie-woogie record label, became prime movers for modern stuff in the ’50s.

Their advocacy of iconoclast Thelonious Monk alone would have ensured their place in history, but key recordings by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Art Blakey, and many others aded to an indelible mark. The label’s funky side, repped by Lee Morgan, Grant Green, and Lou Donaldson (who wheezingly appears here), kept finances afloat, with their sounds widely sampled in the early hip-hop era. The film contains complete new performances by Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, and will be riveting even for folks who know most of the story. Unlike other labels, BN paid for all rehearsals (at Rudy Van Gelder’s stellar studio), encouraging original compositions with challenging arrangements, while Wolff snapped soulful photos that have since helped keep the music alive. (By the way, Nora Jones is almost the only woman on hand.) Rio, October 6 (12:30 p.m.); SFU, October 11 (6:45 p.m.) KE

CARMINE STREET GUITARS (Canada) When is a guitar more than just a guitar? Ask any guitarist and you’ll get an earful. But if you ask Rick Kelly, proprietor of a long-standing Greenwich Village music shop, he’ll show you that it’s an opportunity to reclaim big chunks of old New York and turn them into instruments with experience built right in. Kelly’s not the most charismatic subject, but top players like Bill Frisell, Nels Cline, and Toronto’s Christine Bougie stop by to play and sing. Veteran doc director Ron Mann also focuses on gothmaned apprentice Cindy Hulej, who wandered into Kelly’s shop as an artist and stuck around to become a master luthier. SFU, October 7 (4:30 p.m.) KE CUBAN FOOD STORIES

(Cuba/ USA) Cuban expat filmmaker Asori Soto narrates his gentle and soulful return to his homeland in search of the flavours he pines for. What quickly becomes apparent is that in a country where things can be abruptly taken away—whether by politics, economics, or natural disasters— residents have learned to make do as much as they can with whatever they have, no matter how little. Such is the case with its most delicious cooking, this documentary opines. Appreciation for simplicity (and humility) is a recurring theme, as Soto visits cooks in the unlikeliest locations, from a remote mountain abode to river- and oceanside kitchens. Although tinged with melancholy, the focus here is on how resourceful, resilient, and vibrant Cubans are in the face of hardship. Expect your stomach to growl and your wanderlust to be aroused.

International Village, October 7 (9:30 p.m.) Craig Takeuchi

DJON ÁFRICA (Portugal/Cape Verde/ Brazil) An imaginative, perhaps overly chill Portuguese guy with dreadlocks feels stuck in his cinder-block suburb (including some locations and even faces we remember from the cult hit Tabu). So young Djon scrapes together the euros to fly to Cape Verde, home of the father he never met, in hopes that the old guy still lives there. Directors Filipa Reis and João Miller Guerra have only made documentaries, and they cast ethnographic eyes over the rocky African archipelago, home to a disproportionate amount of great music, from Cesária Évora to Horace Silver. The picaresque story gets pretty wispy at times, as if the filmmakers ran out of ideas or money.

But they compensate with delirious flights of fancy, especially when it comes to Djon’s encounters with beautiful local women. International Village, October 9 (9:45 p.m.) and 11 (11:15 a.m.) KE FATHER TO SON (Taiwan) A highly

floor mercilessly. In Emilio Belmonte’s fiery new portrait, she sometimes looks possessed on-stage; in one scene, her mother tears up while talking about how much she worries over the mental toll of her daughter’s performing. The avant-garde and improvisational directions Molina takes flamenco in are just as striking. At the Seville Bienal de Flamenco, Molina slithers across a floor of white gravel, her black bata de cola dragging behind her like she’s just risen from the primordial ooze. In another piece, her skirt is a giant sheet of plastic brushing bloodlike black and red paint over canvas. Belmonte interweaves intimate scenes at her family ranch, where Molina and her musicians create their work.

It coalesces as an exhilarating look at both the power of art and the new face of flamenco. International Village, October 7 (10:45 a.m.); Rio, October 10 (6 p.m.) JS IN THE SHADOWS (India) In this psychological drama, Khuddoos (Manoj Bajpayee) is heavily preoccupied with observing his neighbours through video surveillance, to the neglect of his own needs. His obsession intensifies when he begins to hear a boy next door being physically abused by his father.

As Khuddoos becomes consumed with finding the elusive boy, the film shifts toward Idu (Om Singh), who is devoted to his pregnant mother but wants to leave his abusive father. Despite a convincing performance, Bajpayee is constrained to a limited and repetitive role as his condition and situation deteriorate, with Idu’s story taking prominence. What unfolds won’t be as much of a mystery as the narrative implies, but elicits enough curiosity to sustain interest. International Village, October 5 (11:15 a.m.). CT

familiar concept (look at VIFF’s Djon África) is given a number of wonderful twists in this poetic, time-jumping, and deeply humanistic Taiwanese effort.

Here, the man (unforgettable Michael JQ Huang) who barely knew his dad is already in late middle age and is facing his own mortality. The fact that he’s an inventor as well as a handyman—his overstuffed hardware store is practically a character in the movie—allows him the chance to return to Japan, where his absent dad was a foreign worker. A parallel story with a young Hongkonger returning to Taipei carries less heft, but allows for considerable variety of tones and rhythms. And for once, the abandoned fellow has a fine relationship with his own son, so that’s already unusual. Highly recommended. International Village, October 8 (10:45 a.m.) INTRODUZIONE ALL’OSCURO and 10 (9:15 a.m.) KE (Argentina/Austria) The Italian title is just one of many red herrings dangled by THE IMAGE YOU MISSED (Ireland/ Argentine director Gastón Solnicki, who USA/France) A strange hall of mirrors prowled wintry Vienna after Austrian that never quite brings its twin protag- pal Hans Hurch died in Rome, in 2017. onists into full focus, this Image will still Hurch was a film critic and historian be interesting to people who care about who ran the Vienna International Film the challenges built into documentary Festival for two decades before his sudfilmmaking and parsing the ongoing den heart attack, and Solnicki honoured conflicts in Northern Ireland. Dublin- his “most flamboyant friend” by visitborn Donal Foreman barely got to know ing some of the haunts he shared with his Irish-American father, Arthur Mac- Hurch, who had a fondness for nicking Caig, a photographer and filmmaker porcelain souvenirs from cafés. Solnicki, who got hooked on capturing different who often wears a black poncho, doesn’t phases of the IRA struggle. MacCaig always explain his cinematic choices, or died a decade ago, and the estranged son his inclusion of seemingly random bits of subsequently visited his father’s Paris street dialogue and music ranging from apartment, where he found considerable Bach to Muzak Billy Joel. Particularly footage and other memorabilia, much nice is a clip of Ernst Lubitsch’s Trouble of which had never been seen publicly. in Paradise, with Herbert Marshall as a SFU, October 8 (1:30 p.m.); Cinema- jewel thief named Gaston. These fragments are fun, frequently puzzling, and theque, October 10 (7:15 p.m.) KE somehow add up to an existential porIMPULSO (France/Spain) The open- trait—of a city, if not of a person. Cineing montage of hypermagnetic dancer matheque, October 4 (9:15 p.m.); Vancity, Rocio Molina signals that this is def- October 7 (4 p.m.) KE initely not going to be a documentary about the flamenco you know. The IT’S BORING HERE, PICK ME UP young star is blindfolded and wearing (Japan) This nervy little item plays like spandex shorts, funky red knee socks, it was made by a millennial female who and kneepads as she hammers the takes no shit. But in fact, director Hiroki

IYENGAR: THE MAN, YOGA, AND THE STUDENT’S JOURNEY (USA)

The late B.K.S. Iyengar’s contributions to and influence upon the world of yoga are detailed in this comprehensive documentary. The then 90-year-old Iyengar (still doing backbends) discusses the roots of his form of hatha yoga, which involves the use of props in asanas (poses), and illuminates the deeply considered philosophy underscoring his holistic pursuit of mental, physical, and spiritual health. His popularization of yoga is illustrated through examples interwoven as threads throughout the film, ranging from girls at a Mumbai orphanage benefiting from the practice to archival footage of western TV-show hosts interviewing Iyengar as a curiosity. However, this portrait isn’t a deification: while some interviewees speak highly of him, others note his flaws, and his brusque, often critical approach is also on display. Needless to say, it’s essential viewing for practitioners. International Village, October 9 (11:45 a.m.); Playhouse, October 11 (6:30 p.m.) CT

LEVEL 16 (Canada) There’s clearly a place in the world for Danishka Esterhazy’s grim fairy tale, which zaps our current anxieties with the institutional dread of early Cronenberg. The film takes place within a high-security allgirl boarding school/orphanage run like a concentration camp, but there’s revolt brewing inside teen Vivien, seriously chafing against the militaristic order, vitamin regimens, and daily lessons in “female virtue”—not to mention the spates of physical torture. Sara Canning gets to have the most fun here as an Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS–like warden, and indeed, if Level 16 had been made 40 years ago as a drive-in movie, we’d feel comfortably removed from its cartoon Nazi horrors. In a world of escalating corporate psychopathy and humans as pure resource? Not so much. The pacing is deadly and the impoverishments of budget a little too visible, but Level 16 manages to unnerve all the same. International Village, October 7 (3 p.m.) AM LOVE AND BULLETS (Italy) Do you

really want to see the mobsters of Gomorrah or The Sopranos break into song on a regular basis? The answer will likely determine your inclination to sit through 134 minutes of tongue-incheek shenanigans involving a tacky widow whose big-shot husband has faked his own death, a hit man in on the ruse, and a streetwise nurse caught up in the mayhem. The setup is fun, and things peak with a big production number of Flashdance theme “What a Feeling”. But the original music isn’t nearly as catchy, and the story flags soon after that. Rio, October 6 (2:45 p.m.); Playhouse, October 11 (9:15 p.m.) KE

LOVE AND COMPASSION (Inter-

national) Grief and Regret might be a more telling title for this package of shorts, most of which deal with mortality and bitter memories. Such strong contenders as a Mexican tale of a single mother going to the circus, a Spanish look at two sisters with different fates, see next page

OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 93

MOVIES from previous page and a British film that follows a Holocaust survivor on his Brexit-age trip to the doctor are very slightly marred by stylistic overreach. The strongest pieces are the simplest dramas. In “Open Your Eyes”, an Israeli woman with failing eyesight has trouble spotting her own prejudice. In the black-and-white “Gerry”, Joan Collins—all 85 years of her—is quietly magnificent as a working-class widow suddenly forced to confront loneliness and her husband’s hidden past.

International Village, October 5 (6 p.m.) and 8 (12 p.m.) KE LUSH REEDS (China) After a coworker commits suicide, introverted reporter Xiayin (Huang Lu) faces a number of changes and cutbacks in her newsroom.

Although she tries to pursue a story about a water-poisoning incident at an agricultural village, her editor discourages her. But instead of abandoning it or attending to her stale marriage with her university professor husband, she willfully takes off to the countryside in pursuit of answers, often putting herself at risk. Highly observant, with attentive reflection given to detail, this thoughtfully constructed, atmospheric, and low-key film gives a nuanced voice (particularly on a metaphorical level) to contemporary social issues in China

ranging from gender and intellectual frustrations to urban and rural struggles. International Village, October 4 (9:30 p.m.) and 6 (4:15 p.m.) CT MARIA BY CALLAS (France) Whether

you’re an opera neophyte or a well-Callased veteran, this profile of the original diva is a huge travel trunk of riches. In a companion to his spectacularly expensive coffee-table book, new filmmaker Tom Volf weaves together bits of the irreplaceable singer’s life and art through footage and stills from myriad sources—all shined to a lustrous digital sheen—with narration taken from her letters and journals. These are mostly read by Fanny Ardant, although Maria’s own voice is heard in numerous interviews and in riotous press conferences that rival those of the Beatles or JFK. The diaristic approach pits her serene self-image, complete with shape-shifting class accents, against the reality of her as a mercurial handful. Most crucially, there are complete performances of her key arias. SFU, October 11 (1:15 p.m.) KE

MEMOIR OF WAR (France/Belgium) The Hollow Crown’s Mélanie Thierry turns in an unflinching portrait of Marguerite Duras in a film based on her writings about life in Nazi-occupied Paris.

She was part of a Resistance group that

“GLENN CLOSE IS A MARVEL OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND CONTROL. SHE IS A HURRICANE.” -Leah Greenblatt, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

“GLENN CLOSE DELIVERS WHAT MIGHT BE HER GREATEST BIG-SCREEN PERFORMANCE — A MASTER CLASS IN SCREEN ACTING. JONATHAN PRYCE MATCHES HER EVERY STEP OF THE WAY. A SIMPLY EXTRAORDINARY FILM THAT COMES JUST AT THE RIGHT TIME.” -Pete Hammond, DEADLINE

“AN INTELLIGENT SCREEN DRAMA THAT UNFOLDS WITH REAL JUICE AND SUSPENSE.” -Ben Kenigsberg, THE NEW YORK TIMES

also included future president François Mitterrand, although this centres on the absence of her husband, captured by the Gestapo, and her ambiguous relationship with a collaborating French police detective. The handsomely shot tale perhaps sustains its protagonist’s cigarettepuffing anguish for too much of its two-hour-plus length. (Her memories of the period were collected in a book called La Douleur.) But there’s quite a lot to admire in the seriousness of its tone and the realism of its re-created milieu, complete with smoke, mirrors, and rations of all kinds. International Village, October 6 (9:30 p.m.) and 8 (3:45 a.m.) KE MINUTE BODIES: THE INTIMATE WORLD OF F. PERCY SMITH (U.K.)

Remember those 1950s movies in which gigantic burrowing ants and angry tarantulas terrorized a helpless Cold War populace? Well, F. Percy Smith turned the tiny lives of bees, tadpoles, and microscopic creatures into size-large narratives almost a half-century earlier.

With macro lenses, time-lapse photography, and almost unbelievable patience, the eccentric Brit catalogued the secret life of small stuff. In his first directing effort, Tindersticks cofounder Stuart A. Staples applies his own hypnotic instrumental music to an interlocked series of Smith vignettes, lending greater lyricism and social context to the fervid peregrinations of protozoans, leaf cells, and the like. Outside the frame, this pioneering naturalist took aerial photographs of land battles during the First World War and took his own life at the end of the Second. Not that any of this mattered to the bluebottle flies he made (slightly) famous. Vancity, October 10 (3:15 p.m.); Cinematheque, October 12 (9 p.m.) KE

MIRAI (Japan) An unusually introspective anime, Mirai homes in on a smalltown family quietly enduring growing pains, starting with a grouchy working mom and a stay-at-home architect dad.

Well, those pains are not so quiet for four-year-old Kun, utterly freaked out by the arrival of baby sister Mirai. In Japanese, that means “future”, underlined when the more grown-up Mirai begins to infiltrate Kun’s consciousness to show him where his life is headed—if, you know, he doesn’t kill the little brat first. Their journeys through time, their tiny (but well-designed) house, and an astonishing Tokyo train station can be phantasmagorical. But the movie never loses its rare and deeply forgiving intimacy. Playhouse, October 6 (3:30 p.m.) KE NERVOUS TRANSLATION (Philip-

pines) While her father is working abroad in Saudi Arabia, eight-yearold Yael (Jana Agoncillo) spends her days at her home in the Philippines cooking miniature meals with her toy kitchen, doing her math homework,

Glenn Close

Jonathan Pryce

The Wife A FILM BY

BJÖRN RUNGE

SCREENPLAY BY

JANE ANDERSON

BASED ON THE BOOK BY

MEG WOLITZER

COARSE LANGUAGE

NOW PLAYING

FIFTH AVENUE 2110 Burrard St. • 604-734-7469

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ESPLANADE 6 200 West Esplanade • 604-983-2762

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94 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

HOLLYWOOD

WHITE ROCK RIALTO

and plucking white hairs from the head of her emotionally distant mother.

Against the backdrop of Filipino politics of the 1980s (conveyed through newscasts), Yael—often left to her own devices—interprets the goings-on of her world in her own way, particularly when she secretly listens to the cassette recordings her father sends to her mother. With stylish, edgy editing and a lack of sentimentality, director Shireen Seno effectively conveys how a child can adapt to the discomfort of uncertainty.

Cinematheque, October 9 (6:30 p.m.); Vancity, October 11 (3:15 p.m.) CT THE NEW ROMANTIC

to a gigantic produce market, but is now a rundown crossroads stop for immigrants struggling to get a toehold on Italian life. The potty-mouthed New Yorker interviews neighbours troubled, ambitious, resigned, and sometimes famous (like Pasolini star Willem Dafoe and his Italian wife), who sketch out a place full of history that is far from over. No idea why he uses the same Woody Guthrie song at least three times, though. International Village, October 9 (8:30 p.m.) KE THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING (USA) A

thoroughly entertaining romp through the absurdity of the skyrocketing global art market, The Price of Everything is by turns hilarious and—depending on how you feel about Jeff Koons’s balloon animals going for $60 mil—scary. Director Nathaniel Kahn deftly connects all the dots here, jumping between artists’ studios (including Koons’s paint-bynumbers factory), auction houses (now “trading houses for assets”), and private collectors’ penthouses—the only place to see some of our century’s greatest artworks. The pace may be breezy, but Kahn digs into implications, speaking to artists like Njideka Akunyili Crosby, who will never see a fraction of what’s paid when their work is flipped like Vancouver real estate, and searching out hilariously gruff painter Larry Poons, an octogenarian, once-hot abstractionist who now toils away in his isolated barn, far away from market demands. Until a New York gallery comes calling… SFU, October 12 (6:30 p.m.) JS

(Canada) Praise be to a low-budget Canadian film that manages to squeeze Pretty Woman, Hunter Thompson, and JLaw’s fappening into its witty script, all while asking “Why does our society hate gold diggers?” In pursuit of an answer, Blake (Jessica Barden) is the ambitious journalism student who writes herself into a sugar-baby relationship with a hipster prof, although her real connection is with a colleague, Jacob (Brett Dier), a little closer in age, status, and moral fibre. Riverdale’s Camila Mendes and Hayley Law also bring their mojo to a small comic gem brimming with spoton performances and sporting a serious bead on the struggles of a generation superprogrammed to view everything as a commodity, body and soul included. Vancouver native Carly Stone’s feature debut slayed at SXSW, and rightly so. And when has Sudbury ever looked this… not awful? Rio, October 4 (9 p.m.); SFU, October 6 (4 p.m.) AM PROFILE (USA) Young Brit journalist Amy poses as a newly converted Muslim PATRIMONY (Czech Republic) An en- in Timur Bekmambetov’s film, which gaging cast and funky, off-road Czech dares to tell its entire story on a desktop. locations can’t quite make up for the The gamble works, creating tension and cloying, borderline-pointless comedy of a sickening urgency out of Amy’s realPatrimony, concerning the search for a time Skype chats with the ISIS recruiter previously unknown sibling discovered and possible human trafficker Bilel, coby a young Prague woman and her newly vertly monitored by an editor, an IT guy, widowed mother. The notions that Mom and a boyfriend, who all throw their was a well-liked theatrical costume de- own panicky curveballs into the action. signer and that Dad was a famous musi- Valene Kane carries the movie, especian are barely exploited by the story, cially when Amy begins to fall, apparwhich also makes the daughter’s own ently, for the sexy extremist. Sadly, in the marital woes boringly random. They spirit of its dodgy source material (Anna meet various colourful characters along Erelle’s In the Skin of a Jihadist), the film the way, and everything is played for easy ends up floating BBC media types as the laughs while the giddily inspirational moral authority in the kind of false narmusic and TV-commercial crane shots rative generally pimped by BBC media of their shiny red car speeding through types. The Twitterati will probably missunset-dappled countryside mainly give take all this for subversive, and formally you time to think about who will star in perhaps it is. In essence, however, Profile the Hollywood remake. International is no less reactionary, lazy, or smug than The Post or an Adam Curtis doc. Do Village, October 9 (4:15 p.m.) KE better, filmmakers. Rio, October 7 (1:15 PIAZZA VITTORIO (Italy) The maker of p.m.) and 12 (8:45 p.m.) AM unsparing fare like Bad Lieutenant and Pasolini may seem like an unlikely tour THE REPORTS ON SARAH AND guide. But since moving to central Rome, SALEEM (Palestine/Netherlands/GerAbel Ferrara has become a passionate many/Mexico) A Palestinian man and advocate for one of the Eternal City’s an Israeli woman cross class and ethnic largest open spaces. It used to be home see next page

MOVIES

In Styx, one of the best films playing at VIFF, Susanne Wolff puts in an intensely physical perfomance as a woman whose solo Atlantic trip is interrupted by a boat full of dying refugees.

SICILIAN GHOST STORY (Italy) It’s slightly attenuated at a perhaps overly dreamy two hours. But this modernday Romeo and Juliet tale, based on recent events and embellished with near-magical moviemaking skill, earns its keep by caring so much about the innocent human beings caught up in relentless Mafia vendettas. Thirteenyear-old Giuseppe is the high-school cool kid until his dad agrees to testify against Sicilian mobsters. When he’s kidnapped in order to silence the old man, almost-girlfriend Luna is the only classmate who keeps querying where he’s gone. Good thing she’s as kick-ass as any Chloë Grace Moretz character, because what she’s up against is disturbingly dark and murky, but also fablelike in its youthful certainties. International SCIENCE FAIR (USA) National Geo- Village, October 8 (11:15 a.m.) KE graphic magazine turns 130 years old this month. And in all that time it THE SILENCE OF OTHERS (Spain/ has remained scrupulously apolitical. USA) The unarticulated question underUntil now. The hysterically antiscience lining this powerful, exceptionally wellbent of industry crooks now in charge assembled doc: why do western liberal of most U.S. agencies has forced the “democracies” so readily forgive fascism?

Nat Geo to remind people that brains In Spain, where Gen. Franco’s thugs walk are not only good, they’re necessary! freely or even cling to public office, a This perfectly edited doc follows eth- movement gathers steam to rescind an nically and financially diverse kids insane “pact of forgetting” enshrined by from wildly disparate parts of the law, triggering condescending piety from U.S., Brazil, and Germany as they con- the government, predictably, but also the verge on the eponymous international attention of the international court. The event, held every year since 1942. Not stories we hear in Silence from the viceveryone’s a winner, baby, but it’s tims of the Franco regime are stomachsheer pleasure to meet so many young turning, though it’s elderly María Martín people—and even more crucially, their who carries the greatest symbolic weight, teachers—who dedicate their know- her damaged vocal cords failing to break ledge to improving life for the whole an urgent whisper as she describes the planet. Don’t miss it! International rape and murder of her mother. The Village, October 5 (6:15 a.m.) KE larger battle is for arrests, truth and reconciliation, and the teaching of Spain’s THE SEEN AND UNSEEN (Indonesia/ fascist history in schools. All she wants Netherlands/Australia/Qatar) When is to relocate her mother’s body from a 10-year-old Tantri’s twin brother, Tantra mass grave beneath a highway. Don’t (Ida Bagus Putu Radithya Mahijasena), miss this one. International Village, Ocis hospitalized for a brain tumour that tober 4 (1:45 p.m.); Cinematheque, Octothreatens him with the progressive loss ber 6 (6:30 p.m.) AM of each of his senses, Tantri (Ni Kadek Thaly Titi Kasih) increasingly strains to STUDIO 54 (USA) Filmmaker Matt remain connected to him. But she does Tyrnauer has paved a fascinating docuso through surreal means, in nocturnal, mentary trail, with thoughtful profiles of wordless, movement-based vignettes. the designer Valentino, urban-planning With striking imagery and observant critic Jane Jacobs, and, most recently, a cinematography, director Kamila An- genial Beverly Hills pimp in Scotty and dini’s visual storytelling integrates an the Secret History of Hollywood. Here, admirable, effortless artistry steeped in he takes on familiar material—the rise Balinese dance, puppetry, and theatre in and fall of New York City’s most glitnatural and sublime ways. An aesthetic tering disco palace, and of its flamboyant and intellectual pleasure to watch. Inter- figurehead, Steve Rubell—and finds new national Village, October 10 (6:30 p.m.); twists to the story. These come mainly Vancity, October 11 (1 p.m.) CT through the newfound willingness of Ian Schrager, Rubell’s surviving and SHÉHÉRAZADE (France) One hesi- more recalcitrant partner, to cough up tates to describe as charming a film the good stuff. The footage is great, and that includes underage sex workers, this well-constructed doc makes the case gang rape, and revenge shootings—but that the club owners’ foolishness with I guess Shéhérazade breaks the mould. drugs, money, and taxes was matched Set in the seedier end of Marseilles, by cultural homophobia and autocratic its daring stride is defined in an early vendettas. Playhouse, October 5 (9:30 scene: it starts with Zach tracking and p.m.); SFU, October 12 (4 p.m.) KE then threatening Shéhérazade when she hoofs it with the chunk of hash STYX (Germany/Austria) There isn’t he’s offered in exchange for sex, and a single superfluous moment in Wolfit ends with the two of them gleefully gang Fischer’s near-silent thriller, in stealing some items together from a which supercompetent paramedic Rike sporting-goods store. Dylan Robert (Susanne Wolff) embarks on a solo Atand Kenza Fortas are tremendously en- lantic sailing trip to Ascension Island, dearing as these two angels with dirty only to bump into a sinking trawler full faces, both guilty of little more than of desperate refugees. Defying the coast being unwanted by their families. Once guard’s instructions to essentially let bonded, Zach takes on the role of pimp them die, she ends up with a dangerto Shéhérazade, and things go horribly ously unpredictable stowaway on her wrong, while a declaration of love at Teutonically maintained and equipped the most precarious possible moment vessel. So yes, the message about murfinally puts the seal on a hard-boiled derous western indifference to its own movie with the softest of hearts. But victims is loud and clear. But with such be warned, Vancouver: HE DOESN’T effective, precise performances on both WEAR A BIKE HELMET. Internation- sides of the camera—making tension al Village, October 5 (9 p.m.) AM a constant in the changing inflection

barriers to have an affair in Jerusalem.

When an ill-advised drink in Bethlehem ends in a bar fight, Saleem finds himself in the cross hairs first of Palestinian intelligence, and then of the Israeli police.

With truth as an inconvenience to both sides, chess moves place the lovers in an impossible situation, not least of all because—uh oh!—her husband is an ambitious Israeli colonel. Domestic lies and political expediencies feed off each other in this gripping drama, while its moral complexities end in quagmire, and nobody comes out looking very good except for the hot cast. Notice, however, that it takes three women and a baby to at least raise the faint hope of reconciliation. International Village, October 7 (8:30 p.m.) and 11 (4:30 p.m.) AM

of physical and moral jeopardy—Styx toward the prone. You have to want the emerges as one of the fest’s best. Play- sustained feeling of meditative torpor house, October 6 (12:45 p.m.) AM that hangs over these Canadian shorts, but they are rewarding. Some feel like TEEN PERSPECTIVES (International) talent in search of a story. Slight tales Eight tales guaranteed to make you of a church-cleaning group, a woman glad you’re not young anymore, these cycling through Toronto’s summer Perspectives are dominated by Austral- streets, and a field recordist capturing ian and other Commonwealth takes on creaking sounds don’t quite pay off, body image, gender stereotypes, class but are soothingly well-shot. A brief (un)consciousness, and self-destructive look at Vancouver’s Georgia Viaduct tendencies. Most are forgivingly lyric- is far more opaque than the catalogue al, and all are well-acted, apart from suggests, and one about a middle-aged one heart-lifting doc that captures the runner is actually tangentially related real-life relationship between a Scot- stills and footage held together by abtish motorbike racer and her über- struse titles. The most complete items supportive dad. The set’s highlight is capture a girl’s ambivalence at competithe beautifully self-assured “Skates”, tive ice-skating in 1994 Istanbul, a Britwhich limns an Aussie courtship on ish woman’s public-bathroom standoff wheels at an otherwise grim small-town with a strange man, and a young Canroller rink in a perfectly dressed 1979. adian’s search for a female violinist who Director Maddelin McKenna and her loomed large in her uncle’s musical life. mostly female crew are obvious talents That last one, called “Veslemøy’s Song”, to watch. International Village, October is the latest subtle winner from Maison du Bonheur’s Sofia Bohdanowicz, who 4 (11 a.m.) and 7 (6 p.m.) KE turns openhearted (and open-ended) THE THIRD WIFE (Vietnam) Sumptu- tentativeness into a surprisingly sturdy ous, sensuous visuals play off devastat- kind of soul-searching mission stateing repression in 19th-century rural ment. International Village, October 3 Vietnam in this stunning first feature (9:15 p.m.) and 10 (3:30 p.m.) KE from Ash Mayfair. As a rich landowner’s third wife, May (Nguyen Phuong Tra VOLCANO (Ukraine/Germany/MonMy) lives in an atmospheric world of aco) What could be a political thriller lantern-lit trysts and lush tropical fields. built around the nightmare of kidnapLife and death cycle constantly on the ping and underground civil war is inestate, shown most evocatively in the stead a more darkly comical, at times repeated images of silkworms at work. almost meditative study of society in unAt first, May enjoys her privileges, with nervingly vague transition. Newcomer servants always at hand, and quickly be- Serhiy Stepansky, previously a sound comes pregnant. But as tragedy ripples technician on Ukrainian movies, plays through the farm, she starts to see her an urbane UN worker on an undefined true role, as property and babymaker, a rural assignment when he loses his way woman discovering her lack of agency in a vast hinterland filled with abanat the same time that she’s finding her doned projects, wandering mercenaries, identity. It’s as beautiful as it is com- and main-chancers just trying to keep plex—an accomplishment that will their heads above water. That last part remind you of early Zhang Yimou and is literal, as the movie’s title is a local Tran Anh Hung. If they were women, of nickname for a region recently wiped course. International Village, October 9 out when dam waters were released.

(2 p.m.); SFU, October 11 (9 p.m.) JS The charm of the movie, which recalls eastern European picaresques like The VARIOUS POSITIONS (Canada) Most Saragossa Manuscript, is that its initially of the positions depicted here lean arrogant protagonist is never sure if he’s

been abandoned or, in fact, liberated.

SFU, October 7 (8:45 p.m.); Vancity, October 9 (1:15 p.m.) KE WINTER FLIES (Czech Republic) The

original title of this oddly delightful Czech miniature translates roughly as Everything Will Be…, and that open-ended phrase perfectly describes the future lives of two mismatched teenagers who happen to find themselves on the road when the older one steals a nice car and heads out across a snowy countryside in search of, well, something. The breezily paced film is well-structured; we know that the main boy—a shaven-headed showoff who talks tough but is essentially kindhearted—has been caught by small-town police striking in their ineptitude. In flashbacks, we see the places, people, and dogs these lads encounter on their aimless travels. And we get a gentle sense of the torpor today’s children feel in a world where authority figures are almost uniformly unreliable. Highly recommended. SFU, October 5 (6:45 p.m.) and 11 (10:45 a.m.) KE

YELLOW IS FORBIDDEN (New Zea-

land) An engrossing primer for the Vancouver Art Gallery exhibition about to open here, Yellow Is Forbidden is more than a documentary about a fashion designer. On one level, yes, it’s a colourful look at the plucky, driven Guo Pei as she breaks into Paris’s snooty haute couture circles. Along the way, we get compelling looks at her family and home—even her incongruous teddy-bear collection.

We also peek inside her unglamorous workshop, where women spend thousands of hours embroidering her beyond-extravagant gowns. But the film also stands out as a study of the global rise of China, tracing Guo’s upbringing amid the Cultural Revolution all the way to the Shanghai elite dropping hundreds of thousands at her private studio. New Zealand director Pietra Brettkelly’s camera makes sure to caress every luxurious fold, stitch, and crystal along the way.

International Village, October 7 (12:45 p.m.); Playhouse, October 10 (6:30 p.m.) JS

OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 95

movies

Reilly steps it up for Sisters Brothers THE SISTERS BROTHERS

Starring John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix. Rated 14A

LUMBERING GUNSLINGER Eli Sisters is a sort of anti-Clint cowboy— sensitive, awkward, and refreshingly devoid of enigma. And he’s one of the big reasons French director Jacques Audiard’s The Sisters Brothers feels like such a new spin on old westerns: it’s a character study—not something you usually associate with a shoot-’em-up, especially one as blood-soaked as this.

Audiard paints Eli (played epically

by John C. Reilly) and the rest of his characters so thoroughly here that you’ll swear you can smell them. The action centres around the relationship that Reilly’s likable oaf has with his brother Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix), who’s hard-drinking and volatile, and has an itchy trigger finger. They argue, fight, and tease each other—watch the fireside trick where Charlie pretends to whimper in his sleep, then relentlessly mocks Eli for coming to comfort him. The brothers are childish and petty, but you’ll be surprised to find yourself gradually caring for both of them, and understanding why they are the way they are.

The two rough-and-tumble assassins are sent by their sinister boss to chase down a gold-rush prospector who holds a valuable secret. But in this wild western, based on the novel

by Canadian writer Patrick deWitt, the plan starts to go wrong from “Giddy-up!”

When they meet up with the prospector, Audiard has a fun time contrasting the brutish Sisters brothers with the refined, idealistic Hermann (gently and empathetically played by Riz Ahmed)—not to mention Jake Gyllenhaal as John Morris, a man whose impeccable enunciation and love of writing may disguise a more tawdry role in all this.

Along the way, Audiard (who directed Rust and Bone) takes us into the boarding houses, field canteens, small-town bordellos, and wilderness supply shops that have sprouted up along the gold-rush route. He gives everything a surreal flourish, from a scene of flaming horses rampaging out of a burning barn to a pile of fine furniture washed up on a seashore.

And he drives everything with a pulsing, jazzy score.

Audiard’s emphasis on character doesn’t mean this western doesn’t have gruesome violence. Bullets and blood f ly. But here’s betting the moments you remember the most are the quieter ones, like Eli trying his first toothbrush or seeing his first indoor toilet. The Sisters Brothers is at its best when it’s playing with the contrasts of two dirt-covered Wild West men navigating an ever-civilizing world—one where bullets and brute force don’t necessarily get things done anymore.

It’s a winding but awesomely entertaining ride, even for western fans who’ve ridden them thar hills many times before.

by Janet Smith

Joaquin Phoenix is brilliant as ever, but John C. Reilly reminds us that he’s much more than Will Ferrell’s best foil with his epic performance as Eli Sisters, the sensitive, awkward half of the titular duo in French director Jacques Audiard’s thrillingly revisionist western, The Sisters Brothers.

When capitalism sets the world on fire VIFF takes a sobering look at today’s economic reality with a handful of powerful docs

O

by Ken Eisner

ne can argue that the very nature of capitalism is nondiscriminatory; that is, capital itself is a kind of artificial intelligence that destroys any perceived threat to its own interests. A number of films at this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival, continuing until October 12, tackle the ins and (mainly) outs of the current economic reality.

While most titles deal with the nightmarish turn of the American Dream, Dreaming Under Capitalism (screening at the Cinematheque on Thursday [October 4]; International Village, Saturday [October 6]) traffics in actual dreams, all in French.

Belgian director Sophie Bruneau listens to 12 workers in Europe’s bureaucratic capital, Brussels, who describe how their jobs have invaded their sleep.

The hourlong effort is paired with The Washing Society, a slightly shorter look at more hands-on labour. Directors Lynne Sachs and Lizzie Olesker visit a number of Manhattan laundromats, where women of colour (except for one man originally from China) talk about their experiences at the bottom end of the service industry. Most of these washeterias have been shuttered since the movie wrapped, to be replaced by faceless pickup services built on even cheaper labour. “For us,” Olesker informed the Straight, “these are on-the-street observations reflecting larger changes in the city, due to demographic shifts, and not unique to laundromats.”

Gentrification is about more than real estate. Millionaire politicians like Michigan governor Rick Snyder and congressional honchos Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell seem to derive palpable delight from hurting the poor. Although their union-busting,

health-care gutting, water-poisoning, mass-incarcerating policies hurt plenty of working-class whites, black and brown people are singled out for It’s getting so that the most crushing abuse. we don’t see black Italian director Roberto Minervini’s What You Gonna Do When people gathered the World’s on Fire? (Cinematheque, in large numbers Friday [October 5]; International Village, Saturday [October 6]) is a unless there’s a two-hour, black-and-white look at protest. violence coming from all directions in communities of colour in the Deep – Tina Brown South. Apart from having to live with the constant fear of being murdered by police—now in their own homes— visible minorities are hemmed in by economic “redlining”, making black been at any time since the Civil War. business and real-estate investment This syndrome surfaces, obliquely, as difficult, in many places, as it’s in United Skates (International Village,

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Saturday [October 6]; Vancouver Playhouse, Sunday [October 7]), a look at the positive influence roller rinks have had in African-American life for almost a hundred years.

Like The Washing Society, this is a largely memorial exercise, as these directors, Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown, discovered while surveying remaining rinks throughout the U.S. “We fell into this story by accident,” says an ebullient Winkler, in a call to the Straight. “We’d heard about black roller rinks, and then when we saw how vibrant this scene really was, we discovered that it really could sustain a two-hour film, filmed with drama and conf lict and also lots of music and real joy. The celebratory aspect was

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what made it all worthwhile.”

Shot over five years, the project— executive-produced by activist singer John Legend—became somewhat less joyous. “After a while,” she continues, “we saw that all these great places were closing, and it was always the same pattern: they’d be rezoned and replaced by the same 10 big-box stores. None were being turned into other kinds of community centres.”

Her filmmaking partner, Tina Brown, has a background that’s both Vietnamese and Australian, and has helped produce documentaries on sports, travel, and Nelson Mandela.

Together, they made a short about one of these hot spots, and then expanded their scope.

“It’s really about access to public space,” Brown says, “without being heavily policed. It’s getting so that we don’t see black people gathered in large numbers unless there’s a protest on the streets. And that’s just not right. Of course, we didn’t know, until we started meeting all these skaters, how important these places were and are.”

For Winkler, originally from Hawaii, the project was about “telling a story that makes people feel united.

Many skaters had no idea there were so many places like this, nor that they were rapidly disappearing. They provided safe spaces for creativity and community in the hip-hop era, and are worth fighting for today.”

The space we call Vancouver was important to Winkler, coming to the fest alone. Her grandmother Mona Allister died in Delta, at 94, earlier this summer. And there will be a memorial just before Skates’ first screening. “My grandmother was this film’s first investor,” she says proudly, “and happily, she did get to see it before she passed.”

DGC Master Class Series

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Paris Barclay, Director, Scandal | OCT. 6 • Cinematheque

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3 Faces

Bel Canto

Jafar Panahi, Iran, 100 min.

WED. OCT 3 WED. OCT 10

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Despite the ban imposed upon him by the Iranian authorities, Jafar Panahi continues to find ways to make masterful films. His latest is a deceptively simple tale wherein he and actress Behnaz Jafari—both playing themselves—travel to a remote village to investigate the veracity of a video Panahi received, in which a teenage girl with show-business dreams seems to kill herself… “This is Jafar Panahi… turning a deeply respectful, artful and compassionate eye outward, to the struggles of others…”—Variety

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RZA: Live from the 36th Chamber of Shaolin Oct 9 • 8:15pm • The Orpheum

RZA, Composer, writer, director, leader of Wu-Tang Clan OCT. 9 • Rio Theatre

Non-Fiction

Destroyer

Paul Weitz, USA, 102 min.

9:15 PM 3:45 PM

Paul Austerberry, Production designer, The Shape of Water | OCT. 4 • Vancity Theatre

Olivier Assayas, France, 106 min.

Karyn Kusama, USA, 123 min.

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Ann Patchett’s best seller comes to the screen in a remarkably smooth and assured adaptation.

Julianne Moore is an opera singer caught up in a South American hostage siege and gradually falling in love with a fellow captive, Japanese industrialist (Ken Watanabe). Both a suspense drama and a romance, this movie explores cultural and political themes with insight and passion.

The fine cast includes Sebastian Koch, Ryo Kase and Christopher Lambert, with Renée Fleming supplying Moore’s singing voice.

The moral and existential odyssey of LAPD detective Erin Bell (a ferocious Nicole Kidman) who, as a young cop, was placed undercover with a gang with tragic results, is the tough subject here. When that gang’s leader (Toby Kebbell) re-emerges, Bell must go through the remaining gang members to reckon with the demons that almost destroyed her. Karyn Kusama’s drama is “propelled by the ceaseless energy of a woman wrestling to take control of her circumstances, no matter the physical toll.”—IndieWire

VIFF fave Olivier Assayas (12 of his films have played the festival, ranging from A New Life, VIFF 93, to Personal Shopper, VIFF 16) turns his eye to the publishing world and the disruption caused by the digital age with this relationship drama starring Juliette Binoche and Guillaume Canet.

He’s a besieged book exec confronted by “the death of print” and she’s an actress tired of her job—and perhaps her relationship. Assayas’ intelligent film for thinking adults says a lot about the way we live now.

Shoplifters

Vox Lux

Yellow Is Forbidden

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Shadow

Zhang Yimou, China, 116 min.

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Zhang Yimou is back. The man who gave us Hero and House of Flying Daggers now delivers another kinetic feast for the eyes. Combat and visual splendour share the screen in this tale of a kingdom, its military leader and his mysterious double (both played by Deng Chao). With Shadow, the director brings a new tone to his work— moody grays and menacing darkness fill the screen. But the visual splendour is still there, and so is the energy: this is a major crowd-pleaser.

Kore-eda Hirokazu, Japan, 121 min.

SUN. SEP 30 MON. OCT 1

3:30 PM 6:00 PM

CENTRE FOR ARTS CENTRE FOR ARTS

VIFF favourite Kore-eda Hirokazu is back with the top prizewinner from Cannes 2018. Also a smash hit in his native Japan, Shoplifters is a bittersweet story of love and crime—tear-jerking and provocative in equal measure. When an abused child (Sasaki Miyu) is rescued by Osamu (Lily Franky), she’s glad to join his family. The Shibatas are poor, but they seem content—though they have some risky ways of getting by… “[T]hrilling, beautiful… a film that steals in and snatches your heart.”—Daily Telegraph

Brady Corbet, USA, 112 min.

SUN. OCT 7

5:30 PM

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A star is born in Brady Corbet’s incandescent feature which follows the rise of Celeste (Natalie Portman), an indomitable, foul-mouthed pop saviour, from the ashes of a major national tragedy to superstardom. Spanning 18 years and featuring original songs by Sia and an original score

by Scott Walker, this is an origin story about the forces that shape us, as individuals, nations and gods. “A deliciously rich treatise on toxic fame and weapons of mass seduction.”

— Hollywood Reporter

Guest

Pietra Brettkelly, New Zealand/France/China, 94 min.

SUN. OCT 7 WED. OCT 10

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When Rihanna walked the 2015 Met Gala red carpet sporting a 25-kilo dress spun from gold and fox fur, a fashion star was born: Chinese designer Guo Pei. Director Pïetra Brettkelly had full cooperation from the energetic Guo, as well as behind-the-scenes access to the preparations for her make-or-break Paris runway show. The result is “an intimate, involving portrait… Brettkelly finds just the right sweet spot between pie-eyed flattery and sober appraisal of Guo and her methods.”—Hollywood Reporter

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OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 97

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7

MOVIES

A riot of animation comes to PIXL

by Adrian Mack

A

The Hungarian film Ruben Brandt, Collector takes a wild, loving swing at 20th-century art.

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blast from top to bottom, Ruben Brandt, Collectorâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; screening at the Rio Theatre next Thursday (October 11)â&#x20AC;&#x201D;is one of the five outstanding animated features coming to the Vancouver International Film Festivalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s series PIXL, which, along with Altered States, is part of VIFFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s boundarypushing ALT stream.

From Hungary, Milorad KrstiÄ&#x2021;â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s film concerns the activities of a gang of swaggering international art thieves, all of them actually the patients of the titular Mr. Brandt, a psychiatrist in need of his own extreme form of therapy. The loopy plot otherwise involves the mob, the cop whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in pursuit of â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Collectorâ&#x20AC;?, and a shadowy CIA man running Parallax Viewâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;style experiments on his own child.

But starting with the cubistinspired design, the filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heart lies in its reference-loaded celebration of (mostly) 20th-century art. Brandt suffers from crippling nightmares that can only be remedied by the possession of 13 masterpieces, including Edward Hopperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nighthawks, FrĂŠdĂŠric Bazilleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s portrait of Renoir, and Andy Warholâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gun-toting Elvis-Presley printâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;although the film buzzes with cameos by the works of RenĂŠ Magritte, Marcel Duchamp, and Robert Rauschenberg, among dozens of others.

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A car chase at the beginning deserves some sort of award all by itself. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Adrian Mack

The filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s call-outs to cinema are substantially more eccentric, ranging from First Blood to Bram Stokerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dracula and Sam Peckinpahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Convoy, of all things. In any case, with its technical gusto, f leet pacing, and bang-up action sequencesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a car chase at the very beginning deserves some sort of award all by itselfâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Ruben Brandt is no museum piece or filmmakerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in-joke.

PIXL brings five of these more grown-up cartoons to the big screen, where they really belong. The Straightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ken Eisner has already gushed over the â&#x20AC;&#x153;rigorous madnessâ&#x20AC;? of Nina Paleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Seder-Masochism, a â&#x20AC;&#x153;kaleidoscopic take on Judaismâ&#x20AC;? coming to International Village on Thursday (October 4). No less acclaimed on the festival circuit, Another Day in the Life takes us into the somewhat darker territory of the Angolan civil war when it arrives at the Rio Theatre next Sunday (October 7).

Somewhere between early David Lynch and Jan Ĺ vankmajer, The Wolf House is set inside Colonia Dignidad, a cultlike village of immigrant Nazis that was allowed to thrive in Chile during the Pinochet regime. (t screens at the Vancity Theatre on Thursday (October 4) and International Village next Wednesday (October 10).

music Ten acts to keep an eye and an ear on

by John Lucas, Mike Usinger, and Kate Wilson

T

Some of the Vancouver musicians we’re the most excited about right now include (left to right) bedroom chamber-folk singer-songwriter Sam Tudor; electronic-pop experimentalist Lief Hall; and the endearingly Tropicália-tinted Peach Pit.

here has arguably never been a better time to tell everyone who will listen that all your favourite musical acts happen to hail from your hometown.

Whether it’s left-field hip-hop duo So Loki, Juno-darling dance-rock outfit Dear Rouge, indie-rock heroes Yukon Blonde, or globetrotting electronic twosome Bob Moses, some of the best music right now is being crafted in rehearsal spaces and bedroom studios right here in our backyard. (Well, okay, Bob Moses doesn’t spend much time here anymore, but we’re claiming them as our own anyway.) As part of Best of Vancouver, our annual celebration of all things local, we’ve picked a few up-and-coming acts that could very well be the next So Loki.

Or Dear Rouge. Or Mother Mother.

Or Said the Whale. Or Dan Mangan.

Or, well, you get the idea.

HEAVY STEPS (indie goth-pop)

The band is clearly not in any hurry to pump out product—its sophomore full-length, Infinity Rope, was five years in the making—but Heavy Steps’ timing is impeccable. The reverbdrenched mope-rock LP is perfect accompaniment for watching autumn leaves fall, and come Halloween you’ll want to put “Blood Scrubber” on any playlist that also includes Chelsea Wolfe and Esben and the Witch.

GEORGIA LEE JOHNSON (folk) In this posteverything age, it’s easy to be cynical, which makes Georgia Lee Johnson something of a rarity. The singer-songwriter is earnestly plainspoken, almost to a fault, but you’ve got to admire someone who can step out on-stage and sing simple, soulbaring lines such as “Give me a kiss goodbye/I will try not to cry.” Johnson sells the sentiment with her bell-clear vocals, and the lush arrangements on her debut album, Wanderling (courtesy of producer Jordan Klassen), don’t hurt a bit.

SAM TUDOR (bedroom chamber folk) “Dream-hazed” is a good starting point for the songs of Sam Tudor, the Williams Lake–raised singer-songwriter seemingly happiest when the curtains are drawn

BLU J (ambient slow-core) There are days—mostly in months that contain at least one vowel—when living in Vancouver seems like a losing battle, especially if you’re committed to making art for a living. It’s not like we haven’t been here before, with iconic venues from Richard’s on Richards to the Luv-A-Fair bulldozed over the years to make way for condos. The problem these days is that no one with a 604 birth certificate can afford those condos. Or, for that matter, a “garden level” basement rental suite in Grandview-Woodland. Give newly formed Blu J credit for catching the creeping horror that Vancouver as we know it is vanishing with its beautifully downbeat single and accompanying video “Both Your Hands”. Those currently on the maximum allowable dose of Paxil might take some comfort in lines like “I was wishing for my life to be over/Till you decided to invite yourself over.”

As for the rest of us, sometimes it’s good to have soundtrack music for those days when the only thing you want to do is stay in bed with the covers pulled over your head, praying to God this isn’t the month the renovicTRAVIS TURNER (hip-hop) It’s tion letter finally comes in the moranyone’s guess if Snoop Dogg is a fan ning mail. of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic or Littlest Pet Shop: A World of Our I M U R (neosoul/R&B) It’s been a Own, but local actor-singer-rapper big year for Vancouver’s best elecTravis Turner voices characters on tronic-soul upstarts. After dropboth and he got the Doggfather’s ping a debut in 2017 that got music attention somehow. Snoop drops a critics scribbling, the trio clocked characteristically horny verse on up a stellar performance at SXSW, Turner’s “Star Girl”, but it’s the Van- opened for Hayley Kiyoko at a soldcouverite’s own way with a melody out Vogue Theatre show, and were and a clever turn of phrase that is the talk of the Shambhala festival. really worth your attention.

With new music on the way in the first week of October—an EP named LIEF HALL (experimental electronic THIRTY33—I M U R have tightened pop) Lief Hall’s music is far from easy up their rich production, with singer listening. Previously a member of Jenny Lea’s vocals dancing over fullexperimental noise band Myths and bodied chords. the abrasive Mutators, Hall turned heads with her vocal-electronic al- PEREGRINE FALLS (instrumental bum Roses for Ruins in April this jazz) Sure, Gordon Grdina and Kenton year. Her most melodic offering—a Loewen are Vancouver music-scene far cry from her noise-punk origins, stalwarts, having collaborated on and even featuring an angelic harp at various high-profile projects around one point—the record took her on a town for the better part of two decNorth American tour, showcasing ades. But the pair’s debut album as her unconventional song structures Peregrine Falls, which was released and bass drones from coast to coast. in 2017, was an overnight success—no and the November skies are charcoal grey. The 23-year-old’s mesmerizingly melancholy sophomore album, Quotidian Dream, is a study in the beauty of solitude, creating a world of 3 a.m. Facebook feeds and solitary days in strange new apartments. Most impressive of all, given his decidedly youthful age, he pulls off the difficult task of taking one’s inf luences (Radiohead, Destroyer, David Lynch) and synthesizing them into something new and original, with guitar and multilayered vocals f leshed out by ’20s-jazz horns and regal string swells. In an interview with the Straight earlier this year, Tudor explained himself as follows: “I wanted this album to sonically ref lect how I was feeling. It was like I was living in this manicured world in Vancouver where things—especially in the summer—were all rosy and impeccably placed. I’m a film student, and I really like David Lynch, so I love the idea of a perfect Barbiedoll world where, underneath, there’s this slow oozing pool of sadness.” If Tudor’s already this good, just wait until he finds his footing.

mean feat for an instrumental jazz record. Grdina—a guitarist and oud player—creates a frenetic rhythmic interplay with drummer Loewen, resulting in a largely improvised, toetapping groove that sounds somewhere between Led Zeppelin and Frank Zappa. It’s little wonder the record was nominated for a Juno.

DROWN IN ASHES (metallic hardcore) Sometimes all you want out of music is cathartic aggression without the frills. Drown in Ashes knows this, and the trio has your hookup. Fist-to-the-gut riffs? Check.

Runaway-train drumming? Check.

Voice-of-rage bellowing? You’d better fucking believe it. Did Vancouver in 2018 really need its very own answer to Sick of It All, Madball, and, uh, Fudge Tunnel? That depends on your definition of the word need, but when that kick-down-the-walls mood strikes—and it always does— you’ll be damn glad Jay Townsend (bass and vocals), Valek Morke (guitar), and Owen Lewis (drums) are out there creating blistering screeds with titles like “Plague of Discontent”.

PEACH PIT (Tropicália-tinted pop) It would be easy to hate Peach Pit, doubly so if you’d spent the past six years taking orders at Starbucks while waiting to be discovered on Bandcamp. You might recall the quartet first surfacing with the EP Sweet F.A., and then promptly getting offers to play not only Bumbershoot, but far-f lung locales like India and Indonesia. Proving that the Internet can sometimes be an indie artist’s best friend, the lazy-summerday bonbon “Peach Pit” has clocked a mind-blowing 18 million views on YouTube to date, with commentssection raves including “This song makes me nostalgic for things that i haven’t even lived yet” and “i feel like this is what a milkshake would sound like.” Evidently of the opinion that karma is something you can’t put a price on, the members of Peach Pit (which headlines the Vogue on October 26) are paying things forward this fall: the band is running a contest on its Facebook page titled “Take Our Van; It’s Free”. That’s right, if

you’re in a band, all you have to do is fill out the form, adds some links to your music, and then explain why you and your bandmates deserve their van. And here’s a quick tip: make it more creative than “We’ve spent the past six years taking orders at Starbucks while waiting to be discovered on Bandcamp.”

Music

TIP SHEET JR. GONE WILD (October 5 at the WISE Hall) The title Too Dumb to Quit becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when the Edmonton act plays its first Vancouver show in 25 years.

KIKAGAKU MOYO (October 6 at Imperial Vancouver) Droning Japanese psych rock, complete with Indian sitar and German motorik beats. Don’t question it, okay?

SKULL SKATES 40th ANNIVERSARY (October 6 at Red Gate Revue Stage) Local institution marks its birthday with help from Dub4Reason from Gifu, Japan.

SHAME (October 9 at the WISE Hall) Back when Granny bought her first Wire T-shirt, the U.K.’s Shame would have been called postpunk, and she would have pogoed to it.

JAY ROCK (October 9 at Imperial Vancouver) Come see why this frequent Kendrick Lamar collaborator has earned headliner status all on his own.

THE CHURCH (October 4 at the Fox Cabaret) It’s arguably not the Aussies’ finest, but 1988’s Starfish was the Church’s big seller, so its 40th anniversary is worth celebrating.

TY SEGALL & WHITE FENCE (October 7 at the Rickshaw) Fun fact: For a while, we thought garage trippers Ty Segall and Tim “White Fence” Presley were the same dude.

OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 99

100 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 11 / 2018

MUSIC

Courtney Barnett emphasizes empathy

S

by Mike Usinger

elf-confidence is a funny thing, especially when you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have it and know that, no matter what you accomplish in life, you probably never will.

Courtney Barnett gets that. To pore over the lyrics on her second proper full-length, Tell Me How You Really Feel, is to conclude that sometimes all the platitudes in the world donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t amount to much. The ragged-glory rocker â&#x20AC;&#x153;Charityâ&#x20AC;? has the Australian outlier singing â&#x20AC;&#x153;So subservient I make myself sick/Are you listening?â&#x20AC;?, while â&#x20AC;&#x153;Walkinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; on Eggshellsâ&#x20AC;? has her laconically opining â&#x20AC;&#x153;Say what you want/Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t got a lot/Oh but what I got/Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d give it all away.â&#x20AC;?

As for the brilliantly titled Track 7, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Crippling Self Doubt and a General Lack of Self-Confidenceâ&#x20AC;?, the message is received long before Barnett gets to lines like â&#x20AC;&#x153;I never feel as stupid/As when Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m around you.â&#x20AC;?

As she kicks off a fall tour of North America, Barnett has every reason to feel like sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arrived as an indie-rock superstar, even if sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll never admit it.

Reached by phone in a Denver hotel room, she self-deprecatingly notes that sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sold out the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legendary Ogden Theatre, which has hosted everyone from Harry Houdini to Prince and the Pogues. Before heading to Vancouver for a two-night stand at the Vogue, sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll detour to Los Angeles to headline the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fabled Greek Theatre.

Her summer, meanwhile, had indisputable highlights like a doubleheader at the Sydney Opera House in her hometown. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was incredible,â&#x20AC;? says Barnett. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I mean, I grew up in Sydney, andâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;obviously, as an Australianâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the Sydney Opera House is iconic. So itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a really big deal to play there, and I was really honoured that people came out to show

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think any one of us ever knows what is truly going on with another person,â&#x20AC;? says Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett, whose latest album is Tell Me How You Really Feel. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So all we can really do is to try and listen, understand, and talk about things with other people.â&#x20AC;?

their support. My parents were there, so that was pretty amazing.â&#x20AC;?

But despite such triumphs, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plenty over the course of the interview to indicate Barnett is the same person sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always been since breaking out at the beginning of the decade: a self-doubting introvert who sometimes wonders if anyone truly likes her. To be the 30-yearold Australian icon in the making is to be convinced youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re never the most interesting person in the room, this despite being responsible for gold-star lyrics like â&#x20AC;&#x153;The paramedic thinks Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m clever â&#x20AC;&#x2122;cause I play guitar/I think sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clever â&#x20AC;&#x2122;cause she stops people dying.â&#x20AC;?

To further illustrate this narrative, recallâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;if you were lucky enough to be thereâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Barnettâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2016 headlining triumph at the Commodore, where she came on like a Crazy Horseâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;fixated

guitar goddess riffing on undiluted Seattle grunge and golden era American college rock. Halfway through the show, a technical glitch caused a 10-minute interruption, the singer eventually stepping to the mike to note few things horrify her more than having to talk to an audience between songs.

Just because youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re never at a loss for words with a pen and a piece of paper doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make you one of the great rock â&#x20AC;&#x2122;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; roll orators of all time on-stage. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The inner conflict is always there,â&#x20AC;?

Barnett explains. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I feel like every day kind of brings those conflicting feelings between my introvert and my extrovert self. But I guess itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s good to be forced into positions like that [Commodore] show, because sometimes youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll surprise yourself.â&#x20AC;?

Consider that a sign sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s deep-down convinced we have the ability to grow as people, something that gives Barnett a reason to keep on going in a world thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s seemingly losing all its civility.

Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s obviously not immune to moments when it all seems hopeless, chronicling what itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like to stare into the void on the deceptively buoyant â&#x20AC;&#x153;City Looks Prettyâ&#x20AC;?. But in her typically clever fashion, sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interested in much more than herself on Tell Me How You Really Feel, addressing everything from sexism and double standards in the music industry and beyond (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m Not Your Mother, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m Not Your Bitchâ&#x20AC;?) to the importance of reaching out for help when the dark clouds roll in (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Help Your Selfâ&#x20AC;?).

What ultimately stands out is her empathy, even on â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nameless, Facelessâ&#x20AC;?,

where Barnett takes the high road while addressing the keyboard gangsters of the world. As a public figure, the singer knows what itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like to be attacked by people whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve never met her and never will. But rather than coming across angrier than Rico Nasty covering Rage Against the Machine, sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s almost sympathetic, addressing the cyberbullies of the world with lines like â&#x20AC;&#x153;Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t you have anything better to do?/I wish that someone could hug youâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;You sit alone at home in the darkness/With all the pentup rage that you harness/Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m real sorry â&#x20AC;&#x2122;bout whatever happened to you.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Empathy is one of the most important things in life,â&#x20AC;? Barnett offers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think any one of us ever knows what is truly going on with another person. So all we can really do is to try and listen, understand, and talk about things with other people. A lot of my album is about the importance of communication.â&#x20AC;?

Communication that, hopefully, gets us to a better place. Barnett might not be willing to consider herself the indie-rock genius that sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s frequently hailed as. But at least there are times when she understands that maybe, just maybe, she could be a little easier on herself. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I know that I can dwell on what I think I am, to where you kind of get stuck in this revolving cycle,â&#x20AC;? she confesses. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Like â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I am shy. I am quiet.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; And â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go to the function where thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to be people because I am scared.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; So you avoid things. But Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve kind of found myself in this position where I almost have to go sometimes.

Or at least will go â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I should really do that.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Then I end up going, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not as bad as I thought.â&#x20AC;?

Courtney Barnett headlines the Vogue Theatre on Tuesday and Wednesday (October 9 and 10).

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OCTOBER 4 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 101

MUSIC

IDLES’ anger is oddly uplifting

L

by Mike Usinger

ogistically it doesn’t make a lot of sense: a revved-up post-everything punk unit tackling racism, self-loathing, male toxicity, alcoholism, and other heavy issues in a way that manages to be uplifting.

But that’s exactly what England’s IDLES do on Joy as an Act of Resistance, a record that, for all its palpable rage and justified anger, takes the position that maybe the world isn’t as fucked as it seems.

Reached at an Atlanta hotel at the beginning of a North American tour, thoughtful and eloquent singer Joe Talbot has no problem articulating the thinking behind the quartet’s second full-length, released in late August.

After years of being angry and afraid to open up to those around him, the frontman began to wonder if maybe there wasn’t a better way. The first step was therapy.

“Really early on in counselling, the idea of loneliness came up,” Talbot explains. “My counsellor pointed it out.

He said, ‘You seem like you were a very lonely child and adult.’ And that’s something that I always felt—that I was alone in the world, even though I was surrounded by wonderful people.”

The singer notes that things never went off the rails to where he bottomed out. His life began to turn around when he met his fiancée, who suggested he seek professional help.

“I’ve always had a job, was always employed,” Talbot says. “My problem was that I was never making myself vulnerable. Never sharing the turmoil, my inner feelings—anything, really. I was, for lack of a better word, stoic, to the complete detriment of my sanity.

In my teens and early 20s I was, excuse the expression, fucking mental, doing all sorts of horrible things. Not treating myself with any respect, and, sadly, not other people either.”

IDLES’ album Joy as an Act of Resistance tackles many heavy topics, like atonement.

Joy as an Act of Resistance is, then, a record that’s in some ways about atonement, but not in a maudlin or selfflagellating way. Instead, Talbot and his bandmates—bassist Adam Devonshire, guitarists Mark Bowen and Lee Kiernan, and drummer Jon Beavis—set out to inspire and uplift, even while acknowledging the darkness.

And Christ knows there’s been plenty of darkness in Talbot’s life, his mom dying while he was making Brutalism, and his daughter arriving stillborn as IDLES was becoming a serious thing.

That latter tragedy is addressed in Joy as an Act of Resistance’s harrowing “June”, where over black-mass synths and a telltale-heart drumbeat, the frontman starts out with the soul-ripping lines “Dreams can be so cruel sometimes/ I swear I kissed your crying eyes.”

IDLES’ great trick on the album, though, is dealing with serious topics without coming across as rage-filled misanthropes. Consider the propulsive pro-immigration anthem “Danny Nedelko”, named for a Ukrainian immigrant close to the band, in which Talbot howls “Islam didn’t eat your hamster/Change isn’t a crime.”

The singer lays out all the shortcomings of modern men in the pub singalong “I’m Scum”, and shows he’s not afraid of a good cry with the rockabilly-tinged rave-up “Samaritans”.

Ultimately, what you hear is a band that sounds like it’s thrilled to find itself with a platform, one that was built with a universally strong reception for IDLES’ fantastically angry 2017, debut Brutalism.

“One of the contrasts between us and other bands—especially the bands that we looked up to in the early to late 2000s—is that we haven’t had any handouts or hype or money thrown at us at any point,” Talbot says. “We are consistently hard-working and are very grateful for where we are. Gratitude manifests itself in more hard work. We don’t sit around congratulating ourselves for all the good things that we’ve done. We’re more interested in repaying our audiences, as well as our management and our label, by making better music and becoming better artists.”

And for Talbot, a better person who is no longer afraid to make connections. It’s no accident that IDLES have been lauded for a live show where it’s obvious that the band’s members love each other as much as they do their fans on the dance floor.

“With this band, we’ve realized that the bigger the platform you have, the more opportunity you have to make a difference,” Talbot says. “We’ve all become better people as we’ve become more vulnerable, and people are giving that back. All we’re doing is trying to open a dialogue. We’re not more important than people in the room—in fact, those people are more important than us because if they don’t pay to see us we’re fucking nothing. On a basic, humane level, what a beautiful thing that they are lending their ear to us.

When you get that exchange between band and audience, you end up with a ball of fucking energy.”

IDLES play the Rickshaw on Thursday (October 4).

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MUSIC

With Marin Patenaude, Pugs & Crows cry Uncle!

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f all the audiovisual images that remain in my mind from this summer’s Vancouver International Jazz Festival, one stands out: Marin Patenaude, spotlit on the Performance Works stage and singing with magnificent panache as the members of Pugs & Crows waxed uncharacteristically rockish behind her.

Now, I already knew that Patenaude is a great singer, having heard her in intimate coffee-shop settings as well as on larger stages, and that Pugs & Crows is a powerful band has been widely recognized; the quintet even won a 2013 Juno for its album Fantastic Pictures. But the synergy between all six performers was startling.

It’s rare, in Vancouver, to come across a vocalist with genuine star power fronting a band full of virtuosos and blessed with such emotionally compelling material, but that’s what Patenaude, Pugs & Crows, and their guitar-playing bandleader Cole Schmidt have achieved with the songs that make up their just-released fulllength, Uncle!. At Performance Works, Patenaude seemed borne aloft by the music, and so was the audience.

“That’s so wonderful to hear that you had that experience watching us, because that is the experience I’m having on-stage with them,” Patenaude says, reached at home in the Kootenays.

“It’s new territory for me, completely.

I usually have a guitar in front of me, so what to do with my hands alone is a whole new world. But I love the music so much ’cause Cole’s just such a wonderful weirdo. He creates such unique sounds, and to be able to sing his music and his journey and his lyrics, and go through that journey with him, is so fun. And then being on-stage… They’re all such cerebral players, but everyone’s always listening to one another.…I have a hard time putting it into words, but it’s fun. It’s really fun. And I’ve never had such a thrill on-stage.”

Uncle!’s title needs some explanation. It is, Schmidt says in a separate telephone interview, a reference to the familiar cry of surrender that accompanies childish games. But in this case, the 33-year-old musician continues, it’s also a nod to the kind

of surrender that comes along with becoming fully adult, with seeing your friends, cousins, and bandmates become parents, with taking on a serious job. (Schmidt recently became a programmer with the Coastal Jazz and Blues Society.) And Uncle!, the album, is also a deeply felt examination of the heartache that comes when older friends and family members die. The record is primarily a memorial to Schmidt’s uncle Russ MacKay, who as much as anyone is the reason why he’s a musician today.

His uncle’s legacy, Schmidt says, is “a big question, so I’ll try to dial in the shiny pieces that are still there. He was basically the first person to show me the Beatles, and he taught me how to play barre chords, and he took me to meditation classes when I was a teenager, and sent me postcards from all over the world when he started travelling more. He was the guy who showed up at Christmas and brought the light into the room. He was an exciting person, you know, and yet everything felt a little more calm when he arrived.”

The love is obvious in Schmidt’s voice, and in his music, and in the way that the effusive Patenaude and the cerebral Pugs combine to bring it to life. Sometimes real beauty comes from great pain— and, alas, there’s one more sad thing to mention before coming to a close here.

Schmidt began writing Uncle! after his uncle died, and completed it in time to give an advance copy to his programming mentor, Ken Pickering, who passed away in August. When a memorial for the jazz-festival founder was announced for the same day as Uncle!’s album launch, a hard choice had to be made.

“It came up,” Schmidt says. “Like, ‘Well, maybe it’s not the best time to be doing something else. Maybe this is a day for Ken.’ But I would much rather be playing music than not—and this music was definitely made with friends passing in mind, so going ahead seemed appropriate.”

Pickering would approve.

Pugs & Crows hosts an album-release party for Uncle! at the Western Front next Saturday (October 13).

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OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 105

MUSIC

Kid Koala gets the audience involved

A

by Mike Usinger

dulation and endless accolades are great for one’s ego, but at some point Kid Koala decided that maybe there was a deeper, more gratifying way to connect with audiences.

“Having toured, pretty much nonstop, for the past 20 or so years, there’s this risk of going into autopilot,” says the Vancouver-raised legend born Eric San, on the line from his adopted home of Montreal. “You get to a certain comfort level.”

Unleashing peals of infectious laughter—something that he does often during the interview—he adds: “Sometimes it’s almost like a Pavlovian situation. Like ‘If I play this, I know that the crowd will do that’ kind of thing. So at some point you find yourself going, ‘There has to be something else—more to life than the kind of touring you’ve been doing.’ No disrespect to that kind of touring, because I really enjoyed it at the time. But I think that more recently, it’s been about ‘Can we create some experiences?’”

San has been doing just that with Satellite, a multimedia live performance spun out of his 2017 album Music to Draw To: Satellite, which he’s bringing to the West Coast for the Vancouver International Film Festival. As has often been the case for the past two decades, during which he’s risen from hot-shot scratch DJ to one of the country’s most innovative creatives, the 43-year-old will find himself on-stage for the event.

But what’s different for audience members this time out is that rather than sitting and watching—and occasionally screaming requests for “Drunk Trumpet”—they’re part of the show.

Attendees sit at tables, each featuring multicoloured custom 7-inch records and a turntable. Over the course of the performance, they are instructed to

Kid Koala’s Satellite is a multimedia live performance in which members of the audience participate by dropping the needle on colour-coded 7-inch records. AJ Korkidakis photo.

drop the needle on records cued from the stage, adding layers of texture to the ambient works San spins on-stage.

When a red light comes on on the turntable, that means reach for the red 7-inch; the same goes for purple, with blue saved for the show’s grand finale.

San says there’s an important reason for making the crowd part of the creative process.

“When the album [Music to Draw To: Satellite] was finished, we found ourselves going ‘How is this going to make sense contextually?’ ” he relates.

“I was like, ‘I could just do uptempo versions of the songs, put drums on everything, and mash it all into a club set.’ But the point of it was that the vibe was supposed to be a little more downtempo and ambient. I’ve never been to many ambient shows, and I think there’s a reason for that: it’s probably not that interesting to watch the music be performed, you know?

“So with Satellite,” Koala continues, “it was about taking production techniques, like layering multiple harmonies on different turntables, and then tasking the audience with that part of it. If I was to do that live, I would need, like, 26 arms and 26 turntables. I’d be running around like crazy, and that would cause a disconnect because what I’d want coming out of the speakers would be something as close to the record as possible: this slo-mo, evolving, sometimes quite tranquil music.”

Part of the challenge of orchestrating those in the audience is getting that notion of tranquillity across.

“In doing these shows, we’ve found that people do have an urgency when you cue them for certain sections,” he says with another laugh. “Because they have to play the different records that are colour-coded, some people who aren’t overly adept at even putting a needle on a record have a bit of

a performance anxiety. So what I’ve learned, over the last few shows anyway, is that I have to start with a bit of a tutorial. It’s like, ‘I’m here to talk you through this—it’s going to be okay and fine, even if you come in a bar late or something.’ As a law of averages, when you’re talking all 50 stations, some people are going to be right on time, some people will be delayed, some people will be scratching their turntable the whole night, and others will let it play. Despite all that, you still get that harmony happening.”

And as for those who don’t hit their marks?

“Those sort of outside cases—the person who’s late, or the person who’s scribbling and scratching and not actually hitting the pitch—add to the interest of the sound. I remember thinking before we’d done one of these, ‘This is 50 live turntables in a room. And this could sound so, so awful.’ The opportunity was there for it to be horrible and chaotic. But the way it’s set up, the pacing of the show, and how we’re kind of interacting with the crowd—it’s surprised me the nuances from the audiences. Especially because some of them have never touched a turntable before.”

Audiences range from small kids and parents to those in between.

“The shows depend on the mood, the inebriation level, the age of the crowd—there’s literally all these different factors,” San says. “I remember one show in Toronto—it was an afternoon show where a lot of parents brought their kids. We were recording most of the set, and I remember listening back. I don’t know what the right word is, but maybe let’s say there was a tastefulness to the way that they were playing. I think a lot of them had never touched a record player before. But we have a maestro, Felix, who’s up there

conducting in terms of amplitude and volume level. I think because they are kids they were able to focus on that, pay attention, and sort of follow his conducting in a way that had a real sweetness to it. It was almost like hearing a children’s choir.”

In many ways, San sees Satellite as a way of getting back to his younger years, a time when he was discovering not only music but also a love of drawing and comics that endures today.

“One of the biggest mismatches at the beginning of my career was that I was playing, exclusively, nightclubs and dance clubs. I didn’t come from that culture—I came from more sort of a scratching, mix-tape, narrative culture. A lot more theatre and cinema influences. This was a case of ‘Okay, let’s try and do a show that brings in some of those other disciplines.’”

In a way, he adds, that puts almost everyone who shows up on the same playing field. The goal for his Satellite shows, Koala says, isn’t to prove that you’re a contender for the next Red Bull 3Style championship, but instead that you can play well with others in a creative setting.

“The kids are equipped with the exact same equipment we’ve given the drunk adults from Saturday night’s show,” he says with a huge laugh. “Even if they are going ‘Wait, what does this knob do, what does this button do, is this the wrong colour?’ at the beginning, everyone has a hoot. You really don’t know what’s going to happen until everyone is in the room together, and that’s what I love about it. That’s what keeps the show from getting stale.”

Kid Koala hosts multiple Satellite shows from Friday to Sunday (October 5 to 7) at the Orpheum Annex. For times and ticket info, go to viff.org/.

1 10 9 G ranville St / 1838 West 4th Ave / 1204 Commercial Dr / 3255 Main St www.puffpipes.ca 106 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018

MUSIC LISTINGS

CONCERTS JUST ANNOUNCED KONGOS Alternative-rock quartet from Scottsdale, Arizona. Jan 13, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Imperial Vancouver. Tix on sale Oct 5, 10 am, $25.

LANCO Country-music quartet from Nashville. Jan 20, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix on sale Oct 5, 10 am, $28.75.

THE KNOCKS Electronic-music duo from New York City. Jan 24, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Fortune Sound Club. Tix on sale Oct 5, 10 am, $25.

MANDOLIN ORANGE Americana/folk duo from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Mar 7, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Imperial Vancouver. Tix on sale Oct 5, 10 am, $27.50.

TWENTY ONE PILOTS Grammy-winning duo of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun performs tunes from new album Trench. May 12, Rogers Arena. Tix on sale Oct 12, 9 am.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4 THE DEAD SOUTH Canadian folk-bluegrass band, with guests Whiskey Shivers. Aug 24, 9:30 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix $25.

IDLES UK punk band, with guests Bambara.

Oct 4, 9 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. Tix $16.

THE CHURCH Australian pop-rockers perform on their Starfish 30th Anniversary Tour. Oct 4, Fox Cabaret. Tix $30.

SHANNON AND THE CLAMS Rock ‘n’ roll band from California performs tunes from latest album Onion. Oct 4, 9 pm, WISE Hall.

Tix $18.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5 PETUNIA AND THE VIPERS Local countryroots band, with guest David Boxcar Gates.

Oct 5, Blackbird Hall. Tix $15.

JR. GONE WILD Alberta roots-rockers perform their first Vancouver show in 25 years, performing their Too Dumb to Quit album in its entirety, with guests the Ford Pier Vengeance Trio and Carolyn Mark. Oct 5, 8 pm, WISE Hall. Tix $20.

BEST IN VANCOUVER - NIGHT ONE Performances by the Poolsharks, Mystryss, Quinn Pickering, Focus Your Audio, and Black Pontiac. Oct 5, 8 pm, Railway Stage and Beer Café. Tix $10.

JEAN-MICHEL BLAIS Pianist and composer from Montreal tours behind new album Dans Ma Main. Oct 5, 8 pm, St. James Hall.

Tix $20.

54-40 Vancouver guitar-rock veterans, with guests the Skydiggers from Toronto. Oct 5-6, doors 7 pm, show 8:30 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix $45/four-packs $160.

PROTOMEN Eight-member American rock band, with guests Makeup and Vanity Set and Bit Brigade. Oct 5, 9 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. Tix $17.

SHAUN VERREAULT Vancouver blues-rock singer-songwriter and slide-guitar ace performs a pay-what-you-can gig. Oct 5, 10 pm, Guilt & Co. Pay-what-you-can.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6 BEST IN VANCOUVER - NIGHT TWO Performances by Air Stranger, Mank, BlackRiff, and Ivan Hartle. Oct 6, 8 pm, Railway Stage and Beer Café. Tix $10.

SCENIC ROUTE TO ALASKA Indie-rockers from Edmonton play tunes from new album Tough Luck. Oct 6, 8 pm, WISE Hall. Tix $12.

GUY DAVIS & FABRIZIO POGGI The Rogue Folk Club presents blues artists from the U.S. and Italy. Oct 6, 8 pm, St. James Hall. Tix $15-$30.

KIKAGAKU MOYO Psychedelic-rock band from Japan, touring in support of latest album House in the Tall Grass. Oct 6, 9 pm, Imperial Vancouver. Tix $17.

SKULL SKATES 40TH ANNIVERSARY Celebrate 40 years of the Canadian skateboard brand with Japan’s Dub4Reason and guests Speedwobble and DJ Vinyl Ritchie. Oct 6, 9 pm, The Red Gate Revue Stage. Tix $13.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7 KANDACE SPRINGS Soul-jazz singersongwriter and pianist from Nashville. Oct 7, 8 pm, Imperial Vancouver. Tix $32.

COMPANY B JAZZ BAND Vancouver jazz ensemble featuring a harmonizing female vocal trio in vintage style. Oct 7, 8-9 pm, Guilt & Co. Pay-what-you-can.

TY SEGALL AND WHITE FENCE American indie singer-songwriters perform together.

Oct 7, 9 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. Tix $30.

A lbum OF THE WEEK JOCK TEARS BAD BOYS (INDEPENDENT)

Jock Tears says a lot in a very short period of time. So short, in fact, that only one track on the group’s 12-song release breaks the twominute barrier—but those time limits do nothing to diminish the four-piece’s astute lyrics and frenetic playing.

Jock Tears is very literal about its name. With a number of tracks referencing male privilege—the record opens with the line “Girls have it trickier than boys,” before delving into descriptions of Kits Beach bros as having “bleach

blond hair” and being “ready to go”.

The group has captured our zeitgeist perfectly. Released eight days before Brett Kavanaugh—perhaps the ultimate advantaged jock—spent four hours snivelling about how unfair it was that he wasn’t afforded an immediate promotion to the Supreme Court despite multiple allegations of sexual assault, Bad Boys serves up distinctly female strain of punk, with singer Lauren Ray’s almost angelic speak-singing offering a fresh take on women’s empowerment. And, and also how to take zero shit from assholes.

by Kate Wilson

MONSTER MAGNET Hard-rock band from Red Bank, New Jersey, with guests Electric Citizen and Dark Sky Choir. Oct 9, 9:30 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix $32.50.

its latest album. Oct 13, 9:45 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. Tix $15.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10

CUB SPORT Alt-pop quartet from Brisbane, Australia. Oct 15, 9 pm, Biltmore Cabaret.

Tix $15.

GREGORY ALAN ISAKOV Colorado-based indie-folk artist performs tunes from latest album Evening Machines. Oct 10, 9:00 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix $39.75.

NEXT MUSIC FROM TOKYO VOL 13 Performances by bands from Japan’s indie and underground music scenes, including MOTFD, Elephant Gym, paranoid void, otori, and UlulU. Oct 10, 8 pm, Biltmore Cabaret. Tix $19.99/$30.

EARTHLESS Instrumental psych-rock band from San Diego, featuring the Mad Alchemy Liquid Light Show. Oct 10, 9 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. Tix $20.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11 NICK LOWE & LOS STRAITJACKETS English singer-songwriter performs with instro-rock group Los Straitjackets as his backing band.

Oct 11, 9 pm, Imperial Vancouver. Tix $35.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12 LEE “SCRATCH” PERRY + SUBATOMIC SOUND SYSTEM Perry performs his Super Ape album in its entirety, with guests Boom Daddy and DJ Tank Gyal. Oct 12, doors 7 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix $32.50.

BEST IN VANCOUVER - NIGHT THREE Performances by Ludic, one sexy chokehold, Derek Pitts and the Bullets, and MudFunk.

Oct 12, 8 pm, Railway Stage and Beer Café.

Tix $10.

STRUNG OUT California punk rockers, with guests the Bombpops & Counterpunch. Oct 12, 8 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. Tix $22.

MAD DOGS & VANCOUVERITES: A RE-IMAGINING OF THE CLASSIC JOE COCKER ALBUM Featuring CR Avery, Steve Dawson, Roy Forbes, Rich Hope, Khari Wendell McClelland, Ndidi Onukwulu, Dawn Pemberton, and Matt Andersen. Presented by the Blueshore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts. Oct 12, 13, 8 pm, Kay Meek Arts Centre (1700 Mathers Ave., West Van).

Tix $56/$53, www.capilanou.ca/centre/.

DEVON WELSH Montreal-based singersongwriter performs tunes from new solo album Dream Songs. Oct 12, 9 pm, WISE Hall Tix $15.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13 LUKE BRYAN American country singersongwriter performs on his What Makes You Country Tour, with guests Sam Hunt, Jon Pardi, and Carly Pearce. Oct 13, doors 4 pm, BC Place Stadium.

MEG MYERS American indie-rock singersongwriter. Oct 13, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Venue Tix $20.

REAL PONCHOS Vancouver psychedelic country-soul band celebrates the release of

MONDAY, OCTOBER 15

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16 THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS Alt-rockers from Brooklyn play tunes from new album I Like Fun. Oct 16, Imperial Vancouver. Tix $35,.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17 CLEOPATRICK Heavy alt-rock duo from Cobourg, Ontario. Oct 17, 8:45 pm, Biltmore Cabaret. Tix $12.

MC50 MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer performs with a band that includes guitarist Kim Thayil from Soundgarden and bassist Dug Pinnick from King’s X. Oct 17, 9 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix $40.

THE WEATHER STATION Folk singersongwriter from Toronto, with guests Jennifer Castle and Ian Daniel Kehoe. Oct 17, 9 pm, Fox Cabaret. Tix $22.50.

POND Psychedelic-rock quartet from Perth, Australia. Oct 17, 9 pm, Rickshaw Theatre.

Tix $22.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19 COLIN LINDEN Prolific doesn’t begin to describe this roots guitarist whose dusky voice and blues-style playing are sought after by everyone. Presented by the BlueShore Financial Centre for the Perforrming Arts. Oct 19, 8 pm, BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts (2055 Purcell Way). Tix $30/$27, www. capilanou.ca/centre/.

JEFF MARTIN Canadian rock singer-guitarist, frontman of the Tea Party. Oct 19, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Imperial Vancouver. Tix $25.

GRUFF RHYS Welsh singer-songwriter and Super Furry Animals frontman performs tunes from latest solo album Babelsberg.

Oct 19, 8 pm, Fox Cabaret. Tix $15.

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20 THE TWILIGHT SAD Indie-rock band from Glasgow, Scotland. Oct 20, 8 pm, Fox Cabaret. Tix $20.

AN EVENING WITH PAT METHENY A careerspanning showcase from the 20-time Grammy-winning guitarist, with drummer Antonio Sanchez, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and pianist Gwilym Simcock. Presented by the BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts. Oct 20, 8 pm, Vogue Theatre (918 Granville). Tix $69/$59/$56, www.capilanou.ca/centre/.

SOWETO GOSPEL CHOIR: SONGS OF THE FREE Caravan World Rhythms presents Grammy-winning gospel choir performing a program celebrating the centenary of

see next page

MONDAY, OCTOBER 8 CLUTCH Hard-rock band from Frederick, Maryland, with guests Sevendust and Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown. Oct 8, 8 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix $46.25.

DROBNER/TOBIN Keyboardist Jonny Tobin and multi-instrumentalist Nate Drobner perform galactic funk fusion. Oct 8, 9:30 pm, Guilt & Co. Pay-what-you-can.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9 WE BANJO 3 Americana band with a Celticbluegrass vibe. Oct 9, 8 pm, St. James Hall.

Tix $15-$30.

SHAME UK post-punk band performs tunes from debut album Songs of Praise. Oct 9, 9 pm, WISE Hall. Tix $15.

JAY ROCK American rapper tours behind latest album Redemption. Oct 9, 9 pm, Imperial Vancouver. Tix $25.

COURTNEY BARNETT Australian singersongwriter and guitarist, with guests Waxahatchee. Oct 9-10, 9 pm, Vogue Theatre. Oct 10 SOLD OUT, tix for Oct 9 $37.50.

THE BRADLEY MACGILLIVRAY BLUES BAND Uptown jazz shuffles, Mississippi blues, and New Orleans funk. Oct 9, 9:30 pm, Guilt & Co. Pay-what-you-can.

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OCTOBER 4 – 11 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 107

MUSIC LISTINGS

from previous page

BEST

the birth of Nelson Mandela. Oct 20, 8 pm, Orpheum Theatre. Tix from $29.

THE EAST VAN OPRY Carolyn Mark and Geoff Berner host performances by the Myrtle Family Band, Christie Rose, Khari McClellan, Desirée Dawson, Shiho Mizumoto & Paul Silveria, Hank Pine, the Wranglers, Kelly Haigh & Jimmy Roy, Jeff Scroggins, Las Estrellas de Vancouver, and the East Van Opry house band.

Oct 20, 8 pm, Rio Theatre. Tix $24/$28.

BIG SUGAR Canadian blues/reggae/rock band, featuring singer-guitarist Gordie Johnson. Oct 20, 9:30 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix $39.

LIVE MUSIC VENUE

1. Vogue Theatre 918 Granville Street 2. Orpheum Theatre 601 Smithe Street 3. Commodore Ballroom 868 Granville Street

LIVE MUSIC VENUE (MEDIUM CLUB)

1. Rickshaw Theatre 254 East Hastings Street 2. Imperial Vancouver 319 Main Street 3. Fortune Sound Club 147 East Pender Street

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21 GORAN BREGOVIĆ AND HIS WEDDING AND FUNERAL BAND Balkan composer and bandleader performs all-time favourites and new songs from his latest album Three Letters from Sarajevo. Oct 21, Chan Shun Concert Hall.

BØRNS Indie-pop singer-songwriter from the States, with guests Twin Shadow.

Oct 21, 8 pm, Orpheum Theatre. Tix $42.50/38.50/35.

QUEEN EXTRAVAGANZA Queen tribute band performs the legendary group’s greatest hits. Oct 21, 8:30 pm, Bell Performing Arts Centre. Tix $65/49.50/39.50.

KING KHAN AND THE SHRINES Eightpiece psychedelic soul revue. Oct 21, 9 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. Tix $25.

DEFAULT Vancouver hard-rock band, featuring frontman Dallas Smith. Oct 21, 9 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix $45.75.

LIVE MUSIC VENUE (SMALL CLUB)

1. Biltmore Cabaret 2755 Prince Edward Street 2. Railway Stage and Beer Café 579 Dunsmuir Street 3. Fox Cabaret 2321 Main Street

DANCE DJ CLUB

1. Celebrities Nightclub 1022 Davie Street 2. Fortune Sound Club 147 East Pender Street 3. Fox Cabaret 2321 Main Street

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25 ARCTIC MONKEYS Indie-rock quartet from Sheffield, England, with guests Mini Mansions. Oct 25, 8 pm, Pacific Coliseum.

Tix $69.50/59.50/49.50.

INDEPENDENT MUSIC LABEL

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26

1. 604 Records/ Light Organ 2. Mint Records 3. Neptoon Records

BRIA SKONBERG WITH “A” BAND This rising star and CapU alumna charms with her sultry, energetic take on jazz music.

Presented by the BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts. Oct 26, 8 pm, BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts (2055 Purcell Way). Tix $32/$29, www.capilanou.ca/centre/.

JAZZ/BLUES VENUE

1. Blue Martini 1516 Yew Street 2. Frankie’s Italian Kitchen & Bar 765 Beatty Street 3. Guilt & Co. 1 Alexander Street

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28 LENNIE GALLANT A PEI roots artist whose music typifies the sound and stories of the Maritimes. Presented by the BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts. Oct 28, 8 pm, BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts (2055 Purcell Way). Tix $32/$29, www.capilanou.ca/centre/.

LGBTQ EVENT

1. Flygirl Pride Events 2. Queer Arts Festival 3. Year of the Queer

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30

LOCAL BAND (SIGNED)

THE ALARM Welsh rockers from the ‘80s.

Oct 30, 7:30 pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Hastings). Tix $25.

1. Mother Mother 2. Said the Whale 3. Hey Ocean!

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3 DRAKE Canadian rap superstar performs on his Aubrey and the Three Migos Tour, featuring guests Migos. Nov 3-4, 7 pm, Rogers Arena. Tix from $59.50 to $199.50.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5 ICEAGE AND BLACK LIPS Indie-punk bands play a coheadlining show, with guests Surfbort. Nov 5, 8 pm, Rickshaw Theatre.

Tix $30.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13 NICKI MINAJ AND FUTURE Hip-hop artists co-headline on the Nickihndrxx Tour. Nov 13, 6:30 pm, Rogers Arena. Tix $55/77/97/123/183.

Employment EMPLOYMENT Tech

Audio Visual Systems Installation Technicians Wanted

(Greater Vancouver Area) Western Audio Visual Enterprises Ltd. is looking for experienced commercial AV installation technicians.

Installations of boardroom video/teleconference systems. Minimum 1 – 3 years. Full Time Position – 35 to 50 hours/week. Compensation - $18 to $35/hr Language of Work – English Apply with resume to info@westernav.ca

Marketing/Promo

Administration/Marketing Assistant for The Underground Circus Needs business and live performance experience Part time, flexible hours & location Contact peter@undergroundcircus.ca

Careers HERITAGE DRYWALL LTD is looking for Drywall Installers and Finishers Job location: Greater Vancouver, BC Permanent, Full time. Wage - $25.50 per/h Skills requirements: Experience 3-4 years, Good English. Education: Secondary school Main duties: Preparation of the drywall sheets for installation (measuring, cutting). Installation of drywall sheets. Securing of drywall sheets in metal or wooden studs or joists. Filling joints, holes and cracks with joint compound. Applying successive coats of compound, sand seams and joints.

Company’s business address: 20448 – 90 Crescent, Langley BC V1M 1A7 Please apply by e-mail: heritagewall@gmail.com

SOV Construction Inc.

is looking for Carpenters. Greater Vancouver, BC. Permanent, Full time. Wage - $ 27.50 per/h Skills requirements: Experience 3-4 years, Good English. Education: Secondary school.

Main duties: Read and interpret construction blueprints, drawings and specifications; Build foundations, floors, fences, roofs and other wooden structures; Measure, cut, shape, assemble, and join lumber and wood materials; Cut, create, fit and install different trim items as required; Operate measuring, hand and power carpentry tools; Supervise helpers and apprentices.

Company’s business address: #103 - 1647 Broadway Street, Port Coquitlam, BC, V3C 6P8P. Please apply by e-mail: hrsovconstruction@gmail.com

Avant Garde Service Solutions Inc.

o/a Tricom Building Maintenance, is looking for an Office Administrative Assistant. Permanent, full-time job. Wage - $ 23.00 per/h. Requirements: Good English, previous clerical experience, 1-2 years.

Education: Secondary school.

Main duties: Provide general administrative and clerical support; Create, save and modify various documents; Open, sort and distribute incoming correspondence, co-ordinate the flow of information; Answer telephone and electronic enquiries; Schedule and coordinate meetings, appointments and travel arrangements; Improve and establish office’s day to day procedures;Order office supplies and maintain inventory.

Job location and company’s business address: 307 – 1477 West Pender St. Vancouver, BC V6G 2S3 Please apply by e-mail: hrtricomcanada@gmail.com

www.redcross.ca Canadian Red Cross / Croix-Rouge Canadienne

108 THE THEGEORGIA GEORGIA STR AIGHTOCTOBER OCTOBER / 2018 108 STRAIGHT 4 – 411–/ 11 2018

Vancouver Building Envelope Solutions LTD is hiring Carpenters. Greater Vancouver area, BC. Wage - $ 27.50 per/hour. Permanent, Full time job Education: High school Skills requirements: Good English, Experience 3-4 years. Main duties: Construct and repair structural woodwork, ceilings, walls, sub floors etc.;Read and interpret blueprints; Prepare layouts using measuring tools; Assemble and fasten wooden materials to make framework or props; Fit, repair and install trim items as required such as doors, windows, stairs, shelves etc.; Operate hand and power carpentry tools in a safe and efficient manner; Supervise helpers and apprentices.

Company’s business address: 1407–1 Renaissance Sq, New Westminster BC, V3M 0B6 Please apply by e-mail: vancouverbuildingenvelope@gmail.com

HIGHRISE GLASS LTD

is looking for GLAZIERS. Greater Vancouver, BC. Permanent, Full time. Wage - $ 25.00 per/h Skills requirements: Experience 3-4 years, Good English. Education: Secondary school Main duties: Read and interpret blueprints;Lay-out frame and window wall position; Install pre-build glass panels and metal panels in frames; Position and secure glass; Assemble and install panels on exteriors of building; Fabricate metal frames;Repair and service windows, aluminum doors; Replace damaged glass or faulty sealant; Measure, mark and cut glass; Assemble, erect and dismantle scaffolds,swing-stages.

Company’s business address: #221 – 17 Fawcett Rd, Coquitlam BC V3K 6V2 Please apply by e-mail: hrg.jerzy@gmail.com

Mind EMPLOYMENT Body & Soul Aesthetics

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MEDIA, ARTS & CULTURE

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7 CHILDISH GAMBINO Singer, songwriter, and rapper from the States, with guest Rae Sremmurd. Dec 7, 8 pm, Rogers Arena. Note: POSTPONED from original date of Sep 30.

Tix $139.50/89.50/59.50.

LOCAL BAND (UNSIGNED) 1. The Boom Booms 2. Queer As Funk 3. Peach Pit

LOCAL MUSIC FESTIVAL

1. Vancouver International Jazz Festival 2. Vancouver Folk Music Festival 3. SKOOKUM

NIGHTCLUB

1. Republic 958 Granville Street 2. Bar None 1222 Hamilton Street 3. Venue 881 Granville Street

PLACE FOR KARAOKE

1. Funky Winker Beans 37 West Hastings Street 2. Fantacity 1133 Robson Street 3. Numbers Cabaret 1042 Davie Street

PICK-UP BAR

1. The Roxy Cabaret 932 Granville Street 2. Numbers Cabaret 1042 Davie Street 3. Celebrities Nightclub 1022 Davie Street

PLACE TO GO DANCING

1. Celebrities Nightclub 1022 Davie Street 2. The Roxy Cabaret 932 Granville Street 3. Fortune Sound Club 147 East Pender Street

COUNTRY NIGHT

1. The Yale Saloon 1300 Granville Street 2. The Roxy Cabaret 932 Granville Street 3. Roosters Country Cabaret 4–19040 Lougheed Highway

PIPE, BONG, AND ACCESSORY SHOP

1. Puff Various locations 2. Weeds Glass and Gifts Various locations 3. Ignite Smoke Shop 109 West Cordova Street

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14

CONTACT WINTER MUSIC FESTIVAL Two-day electronic-music festival features headliners the Chainsmokers and Skrillex, plus Galantis, Alison Wonderland, Nightmre, Troiboi, BTSM, Loud Luxury, Valentino Khan, Clozee, Crankdat, Cray, Elephante, Juelz, MXYNY, Phantoms, and We Are Fury. Dec 28-29, BC Place Stadium..

WINTER BREAKOUT 2018 All-ages hip-hop festival features performances by headliner Lil Uzi Vert, plus Playboi Cari, Killy, Flipp Dinero, Valee, and Killumantii, along with local artists ILLYMINIACHI and ACDATYOUNGN*GGA. Dec 14, doors 6 pm, Pacific Coliseum. Tix $99/$149 VIP.

MUSIC LISTINGS are a public service provided free of charge. Submit listings online using the event-submission form at straight.com/AddEvent. Events that don’t make it into the paper due to space constraints will appear on the website.

Counselling

COUNSELLING

Anxiety, Stress, Marital- relationships and couples, Parenting (groups or individuals), Career progression and General life issues.

Contact/ Email Tanya

www.soulviewcounselling.com or call 778-683-4427 Certified Massage

FALL SPECIAL Bodyscrub $79/70min. Waxing 20% off. Massage $28/half hour 8 - 4287 Kingsway 604-438-8714 Support Groups Healing Our Spirit B.C. First Nations AIDS Society has volunteer opportunities for hospital visitation, information booths, office assistance & preparation of pamphlets & condoms for distribution. We offer volunteer orientation, training & recognition & bus tickets.

If interested, please call 983-8774 Ext. 13.

We are dedicated to preventing and reducing the spread of HIV in the aboriginal communities of B.C. Healthy & loving relationships alluding you?

CODA: Co-dependency Anonymous 12 step Recovery: 604- 515-5585 Infertility Awareness Assoc. of Canada (IAAC) provides educational material & support to individuals or couples experiencing infertility.

Meetings: 7 pm the 2nd Wed of the month.

Richmond Library & Cultural Centre, 7700 Minoru Gate. Info 523-0074 or www.iaac.ca

AL-ANON FAMILY GROUPS Does someone else's drinking bother you?

Al-Anon can help.

We are a support group for those who have been affected by another's drinking problem.

For more information please call: 604-688-1716 Anorexics & Bulimics Anonymous 12 Step based peer support program which addresses the mental, emotional, & spiritual aspects of disordered eating Tuesdays @ 7 pm @ Avalon Women's Centre 5957 West Blvd - 604-263-7177 ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION Looking to start a parent support group in Kitsilano.

Please call Barbara 604 737 8337 Support, Education & Action Group for Women that have experienced male violence.

Call Vancouver Rape Relief 604-872-8212

Anxiety? Depression?

Free Mental Wellness Support Group held on Saturdays (10:30 am – 12:30) Promotes a holistic approach to healing (body, mind & spirit). Networking and interactive learning experience in a safe, non-judgmental environment.

For more information call 604-630-6865 or visit www.mentalwellnessbc.ca Battered Women's Support Services provides free daytime & evening support groups (Drop-ins & 10 week groups) for women abused by their intimate partner. Groups provide emotional support, legal information & advocacy, safety planning, and referrals.

For more information please call: 604-687-1867 Equal Parenting Group - North Vancouver Support group for fathers going through the divorce process needing help. Call 604-692-5613 Email:nspg@mybox.com

BEST

SEX & ROMANCE

STRIP CLUB 1. Brandi’s Exotic Show Lounge 595 Hornby Street 2. No. 5 Orange 205 Main Street 3. Penthouse 1019 Seymour Street

FETISHWEAR STORE 1. Honey Gifts Various locations 2. Womyns’ Ware 896 Commercial Drive 3. Brazilian Spot Apparel

SEX-TOY STORE 1. Womyns’ Ware 896 Commercial Drive 2. Honey Gifts Various locations 3. Little Sister’s Book & Art Emporium 1238 Davie Street

Marketplace EMPLOYMENT Web Directory

www.straight.com EMPLOYMENT Music Repairs Basone Guitars – Vancouver's BEST Guitar Shop!

GREAT DEALS on Guitars, Amps, Pedals, Ukuleles, Plus professional REPAIR SERVICES and Custom Electrics. Stop by today! 1 blk East of Main St. 318 E 5th Ave 604-677-0311 basoneguitars.com

Musicians Wanted

Musicians

Place your FREE musicians WANTED & AVAILABLE ads by going to www.straight.com create a classified account & place your ad for Free or fax to 604-730-7016 All FREE ads are based on space availability.

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TALK MEN OFF GET TALKED OFF

SAVAGE LOVE

UBC sex researcher opens hearts and minds

by Dan Savage

IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE for a couple that stopped having sex to start back up again? My girlfriend and I (we’re both women) have been together for four years, and we haven’t had sex for two. I thought the sex was good before it stopped, but apparently she was going through the motions.

She’s a sex worker, and it took her a while to figure out she was not being present, and she wanted to stop having sex with me until she could figure out how to change that. I get that and respect it. We have an open relationship, so I started having more sex with other people. And while it’s fun, I do find myself wishing I could have sex with someone I actually care about—and I only care about her.

She says she wants to start having sex with me again, but we don’t really know how to do that. Everything is kind of terrifying and awkward. She said it’s hard to go from sex with zero intimacy into sex with the intimacy turned up to 11. We’re very romantic with each other, and there are other forms of physical affection like kisses and snuggling, but no making out or humping. I love her more than I knew I could love a person, and if we never do figure out how to have sex together, I’ll still stay with her. But for two people who are both highly sexual and want to have sex with each other, we sure are perplexed at how to make this work.

“Let’s cut to the chase: yes, it is possible for

a couple that has stopped having sex to start having it again,” said Lori Brotto, a clinical psychologist and a sex researcher at the University of British Columbia.

You ended on a note of despair, SORD, but Brotto sees two good reasons for hope: you and your girlfriend are completely open and honest with each other, and you’re committed to staying together whether or not the sex resumes.

Your communication skills and that rock-solid commitment—neither of you is going anywhere—are the bedrock on which you can rebuild your sex life.

“There are two aspects of SORD’s question that jump out at me: one, the reference to wanting to be present for sex, and, two, the description of the situation as terrifying and awkward,” said Brotto. “SORD’s girlfriend likely perfected the practice of ‘going elsewhere’ during sex while at work, which meant that it became almost automatic for her to do this while having sex in her relationship. This is classic mindlessness, and it is why mindfulness—the state of full awareness to the present moment in a kind and compassionate way—may be a tool for her to consider implementing.”

Mindfulness is the subject of Brotto’s new book, Better Sex Through Mindfulness: How Women Can Cultivate Desire.

“Mindfulness has a long history in Buddhist meditation, and it allowed monks to sit with their present experi- Sex Or Romance Dilemma ence, including pain and suffering, for

hours or days—or sometimes weeks and months,” said Brotto. “In more recent years, mindfulness has been reconceptualized as a tool that anyone can use and benefit from. It doesn’t rely on having a Buddhist orientation or a cave to retreat to.”

So how does this ancient mindfulness stuff work where modern girl-ongirl sex is concerned?

“The practice is simple,” said Brotto. “It involves deliberately paying attention to sensations, sounds, and thoughts in the present moment—and noticing when the mind gets pulled elsewhere and then gently but fi rmly guiding it back. Mindfulness is also about not berating yourself for finding it challenging or judging yourself for the thoughts you have.”

In her practice, Brotto has seen research subjects successfully use mindfulness to cultivate and/or reignite sexual desire, calm anxiety, and relieve the awkwardness and fear that some people experience with sex.

“Suffice it to say,” she said, “there is an impressive body of research that supports the practice of mindful sex, and people who otherwise may believe that their minds are incapable of staying still can effectively learn to fully engage their attention to sex and the person(s) with whom they are having sex. It doesn’t matter if you are skeptical about whether mindfulness works or not—if you are willing to learn the skills and apply it to sex, you’re likely to benefit.”

And if you’re nervous or scared that it won’t work or that you’ll never reconnect sexually with your girlfriend, SORD, Brotto wants you to know that those feelings are perfectly normal.

“The uncertainty surrounding what will happen when they try to reintegrate sex can be terrifying for some couples,” said Brotto. “What if it doesn’t work? What if neither of them has desire? What if the sex is just plain bad? If SORD and her partner are worrying about the anticipated sex, or even catastrophizing over it—a jargony term meaning they imagine it ending in disaster—that can make it damn near impossible to remain in the present. The good news is that mindfulness can help with the tendency to get lost on the thought train.”

So here’s what you’re going to do, SORD: order a copy of Brotto’s new book and read it with your girlfriend.

And while you wait for the book to arrive, you’re going to try a mindfultouching exercise called “sensate focus”.

“She will invite her girlfriend to touch her from head to toe, minus the genitals, for 15 minutes—without the goal of triggering arousal or desire,” said Brotto. “SORD’s role is to pay attention to the sensations emerging and curtail any thoughts by redirecting attention to the here and now.

And relax. After 15 minutes, they switch roles so SORD becomes the giver and her girlfriend is the receiver.

Th is is not foreplay. It is not manual

sexual stimulation. It is a mindfulness exercise designed to teach a person to remain in the present while receiving sensual touch.”

There are solo mindfulness exercises, SORD, and some good, commercially available apps out there that can walk you through them. But if your goal is reconnecting with your girlfriend, Brotto strongly recommends that you two work on mindfulness together.

“My view is that a couple-based mindfulness exercise like sensate focus will get them to their goal of mind-blowing, mind-knowing sex,” said Brotto.

Follow Brotto on Twitter @DrLori Brotto.

CONFIDENTIAL TO CANADIAN students in Ontario: thank you for walking out of your classrooms to protest the scrapping of Ontario’s sex-ed curriculum by Doug Ford, your newish (and thuggish) premier. Every student deserves an up-to-date sexual education that covers reproduction, pleasure, consent, tech, sexting, sexual abuse, and LGBTQ issues. Watching students stand up against Ford’s reactionary, bigoted, sex-negative assholery has been truly inspiring. Keep it up!

On the Lovecast, are sugar babies sex workers?: savagelovecast.com.

Email: mail@savagelove.net. Follow Dan on Twitter @fakedansavage. ITFMA.org.

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